Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Elevated to a new division after winning the conference title last season, the Uniondale softball team is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.
“We’re playing a whole set of new teams, many teams we have not seen before, going to new places,” said coach Douglas Modica. “Some are excited to play different teams, knowing that we’re here because we won the conference, some are a little bit nervous because there are new teams that we’ve never played.”
Among the seniors where’s starting catcher Emely Carranza second baseman Brihanna Hall, outfielder Jenifer Hernandez, third baseman Daniella Rosales, four-year varsity-starting first baseman Jada Scott and Niya Vassell, labeled as an infield/utility player.
Modica mentioned Scott as one of the most standout players, given her tenure on the varsity program.
“I’ve seen her grow in terms of leadership; as she’s become older she’s become more of a team leader,” he said. “In terms of how she plays, how she practices, her attitude approaching practice, approaching the game, kind of like a leader by example.”
That’s pretty much most of the infield, and the missing gap at shortstop is a sophomore who Modica just brought up to start at the varsity level: Melanie Saravia.
There’s plenty of newcomers, and two of them also just came up from the JV squad: sophomore pitchers Varsha Ramrookum and Briana Marquez. Marquez comes in for relief, but the first weekend of the season got injured, so Ramrookum was kind of thrust into the spotlight.
“Varsha is our number one pitcher, she works hard and right now it’s her,” Modica said.
This was not Ramrookum’s first taste pitching for the varsity squad: last year, Modica had her brought up for a game last year when the regularly scheduled pitcher was unable to pitch day-of, and since then had proved why she deserves to have the ball.
“I think she was nervous, coming up to varsity to pitch a game, you could see that she was nervous but she hung in there and fought through,” Modica said.
Backing up the pitching, is the hitting.
“The bats look pretty good. We could basically bat one through nine with confidence that we’re gonna get hits, which is unlike many seasons in the past,” Modica siad. “We have confidence in all of our batters.”
The caveat here is that because the team is in a higher conference, at-bats have gotten incrementally more difficult.
“Going from the lowest conference to the conference ahead, the pitching’s a little different that we’re facing,” Modica explained. “Sofor the returning girls it’s a little bit of an adjustment, a little bit of faster pitching, but hopefully we’re catching on quick.”
Off the field is an area of growth that Modica said he’s seen from his players.
“This year, unlike others, there’s been a lot of camaraderie with the team,” he said. “I see the seniors driving home the juniors, and they hang out together as a team. The first Friday practice they all went to Chick-Fil-A and had their little dinner there, which was cool to know that they all got the invite and that most of them showed up, and that was all planned by the seniors. They wanted to get the team together and had a good time.”
