Youthful Baldwin aims for top spot

Baldwin softball coach Tom Llewellyn has conference title hopes this spring despite a youth-filled roster.

He purposely built a challenging non-league schedule to prepare the Lady Bruins for an unfamiliar group of Conference IV foes, with Port Washington being the only longtime rival.

“Port Washington is probably the only team in the conference we’re familiar with and we’ve got a big rivalry going,” Llewellyn said. “We’ve split with Port four years in a row and it’s always a tough matchup. Otherwise, we’re playing teams we haven’t faced in forever.”

Baldwin finished 9-5 last spring and reached the Nassau Class AA playoffs with a roster younger than the current one, Llewellyn said. “We made inexperienced mistakes and lost some close games,” he said. “This year hopefully we’ll cut down on the errors and surprise some people.

“We have a handful of kids that play softball year-round and we have the ability to win the conference,” he added.

Setting the table for the offense is junior center fielder Dylan Reyer, who earned All-County honors last spring after raking at the plate with a .670 batting average from the leadoff spot and swiping 25 bases. “She’s a slap hitter who has developed a power swing to take her game to another level,” Llewellyn said. “She’s also such a smart player who knows game situations as well as anyone.”

Sophomore Kate Heuser will serve as the primary pitcher and No. 2 hitter. She hit .550 a year ago and has put in a ton of work developing secondary pitches with movement, Llewellyn said. Freshman Erin Timmes will be Heuser’s catcher but also see some innings on the mound and fill in at shortstop and in the outfield if a need arises. Timmes bats fifth in the lineup and is expected to knock in runs. Junior Carlee Melvin, who thrived as the JV starting catcher last season, will work behind the plate when Timmes pitches or plays elsewhere.

Junior Emma Grochowski and sophomore Mariah Spencer return at third and first base, respectively, and will comprise the heart of the batting order as the No. 3 and cleanup hitters. Llewellyn said he’s expecting a breakout campaign with the stick and glove from Grochowski, who hit .350 with 13 RBIs and rarely strikes out. Spencer hammered 6 homers and drove in 30 as a freshman and earned Honorable Mention All-County.

“Mariah can mash the ball and we have solid protection from her in the lineup,” Llewellyn said. “She’ll be tougher to pitch around.”

The middle infield features junior twin sisters Jessica and Taylor Darcy. It’s their fourth year on varsity, but 2020 was lost to COVID, and Taylor missed last spring with a broken wrist. Senior Makayla Jones, a key to the offense as the primary designated hitter, provides infield depth.

Freshman left fielder Jadyn Culbreath wields a powerful bat and arm. Right field remains a position in flux.

In addition to Port Washington, the Lady Bruins have East Rockaway, North Shore, Jericho, Glen Cove, Mineola and Floral Park as conference foes.