Scarsdale Varsity Baseball Team Falls to White Plains

The Scarsdale Raiders Varsity Baseball Team played against White Plains on Wednesday May 7 and lost by two points; the final score was five to three. This is not the team's first game vs. White Plains ­ they also played them on Monday May 5 and were defeated 15-14 and lost in extra innings.

"It was a long, hard­fought game against a team that we are not big fans of as people, and this made the loss all the more bitter and emotionally draining. It was a really tough loss," says junior Jonathan Greenberg who plays the outfield.

The Raiders were practically playing "catch up" the whole game. In the first inning, the Raiders lost four runs. At one point, the Raiders got the score as close as three to four.

The boys knew they had to keep at it and try to score at least just one more run, but the tides changed when White Plains scored yet another run, putting them two points above Scarsdale. After this last run by White Plains, the Raiders could not rally in time and the score remained three to five, with the Raiders trailing.

While the Raiders are undoubtedly disappointed with today's loss, there were a few good aspects of the game. Pitcher Jacob Stein finished the game strong and never let himself slack off, even though he was the only pitcher for seven innings. Senior batter Raj Palekar hit a single in the bottom half of the seventh inning, after which the White Plains pitcher got three straight strikeouts.

So, what do the players have to say about today's game?

"I think we were the better team and we should have won both games," says junior Brian Rauch, who is one of the pitchers for the team. "But I think this loss can only be seen as motivation for this team because we have lost a lot of heartbreakers this season, and we haven't quit yet."

The team now stands at seven and ten with three games to be played.

The baseball team's next few games will be at Horace Greeley High School on Friday the May 9 at 4:15; at Scarsdale High School on Saturday the May 10 against Environmental High School; and on Tuesday May 13 at Scarsdale High School against Salesian High School at 4:30.

In other sports news, the varsity softball team lost their game against Ardsley five to eight on Tuesday the sixth, the varsity boys lacrosse team won their game today against White Plains eleven to ten in overtime, and the varsity boys tennis team had a match against Mamaroneck and won, thus winning the league. Richard Bennett and Zack Shulman were the victors in first doubles, Daniel Markowitz and Alexander Johnson prevailed in second doubles, John Kaspers and Ben Lefkowitz bested Mamaroneck in third doubles and Jacob Eisenstein and Chris Landgrebe beat out their opponents in fourth doubles.

"I'm pumped for tomorrow," exclaims John Kaspers. "Because we won the section, we move on to play the conference championship."