Carey Seahawks first to bring trophy home

Long Island is not necessarily known as a breeding ground for great baseball players. Despite being the birthplace of big-name major leaguers, both old and new, such as Craig Biggio and Billy Koch, Long Island continues to produce far more lacrosse players than baseball stars.

The players on the H. Frank Carey High School varsity baseball team, however, didn’t seem to be phased by the stacked-up odds against their success during the 2010-11 season. The team was named Nassau County and Class AA Long Island champions this year, losing the state championship to Victor High School of Rochester.

The team became the first Carey Varsity Baseball team to win both a Long Island Championship and county title, and on July 28, the Seahawks celebrated the season at Carmela’s Restaurant in Franklin Square.

“Nobody had us winning any championships,” said Mark Marchedquis, who has been the head coach of the Seahawks varsity team for five years. “This really does feel great … after tests like game two of the county semi-finals against Calhoun, where we had to come back from a four run deficit to win, finally taking a championship home makes it all worth it.”

The Seahawks gathered after Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) requested to treat the young athletes to lunch to reward them for their groundbreaking season.

“It’s great not just for the team and coaches, but also for the younger kids who can see this team win a championship and have hope for themselves that they too might one day be holding that trophy,” Ra said.

Seahawk Kyle DeMeo, 17, set the single season hit record and RBI record. “I really feel like I ended my senior year the best way I could have imagined,” said DeMeo, a future shortstop/pitcher at Dowling College.

“We worked hard, and fought for every run,” said Jesse Bordeman, 16, Carey’s third baseman. “In the end, our dedication paid off.”

Maredquis said he’s optimistic about next year’s team, and that though he can’t say whether they’ll bring home a title for the second year in a row, he’s sure they’ll have a very talented squad.