High school central

As Babylon heads toward another postseason run in Suffolk Class B softball, the Panthers can hold their head up high after capturing a seventh league championship and first in League VIII under coach Rick Punzone.

A year after going undefeated at 22-0 en route to the Long Island Championship, Punzone is curious to how this year's group will respond.

"I've been satisfied with the...

Inclement weather on Saturday forced the start of the Nassau boys tennis individual championships/state qualifier to Sunday morning, putting the county’s best tennis players through a Mother’s Day marathon at Oceanside.

There were 45 singles players and 55 doubles pairs at the start of the tournament at 9:30 a.m., and by 8 p.m. the plan was to narrow the field to just four singles players...

North Babylon standout Makeda Nicholas recently gave a verbal commitment to play basketball at the University of Delaware, and she will team up with St. Anthony's Chastity Taylor.

Nicholas, a junior, was a highly coveted recruit. She is a 6-1 forward with strength, low post moves and a mid-range jumper, and has the ability to handle the ball. She averaged 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in earning...

St. Anthony's star Chastity Taylor verbally committed to play at the University of Delaware, St. Anthony's coach Ken Parham informed Newsday.

Taylor, a junior, helped lead St. Anthony's to a league title and the CHSAA Class AA state tournament.

"Chastity has the ability to play almost any position on the court with her combination of skill set and size," Parham said of the...

During the first practice, after Glenn Lavey took over the Herricks girls lacrosse team two years ago, he assured the players that they would make the playoffs. And they all laughed at him.

This was a group deficient in depth, skill and experience, and one playoff appearance in program history had them a little short on optimism.

“We thought he was joking at first,” senior Sabrina Telmo...

MacArthur boys tennis coach Phil Machmer left Friday’s Conference IV-A championship match soaked in cold water, and that’s just the way he wanted it. The top-seeded Generals ended a 20-year title drought by beating No. 2 Bethpage, 5-2, to earn their first conference championship since 1993. The match of the day came at fourth doubles, where Matt Bellacosa and Justin Rouzier defeated Sam Romano and...

It's no secret that Allison and John Pfeffer, the married brain trust behind Bay Shore lacrosse, have ong been considered trailblazers in the sport, but Thursday, their status as Long Island icons received just the tiniest boost.

The duo, piloting a team that is now 13-1 and a favorite in Suffolk Division I, won their 300th game in a 19-4 win over Floyd Thursday. Let's hear what they have...

Welcome to another installment of Around the Diamond.  Each week we’ll sit down with a local high school softball player and ask her a series of questions…some that relate to softball, some that don’t, and some that may even be slightly embarrassing.

If you'd like to be featured, e-mail me at michael.gavin@newsday.com, or message me on Twitter at @mgavinjr, or just come talk to me at...

Andrew Lapreziosa of Smithtown West was the fastest. R.J. Foster of Riverhead leaped the highest. Thomas Reed of Deer Park leaped the farthest. Josh Devlin of West Islip was the strongest.

Those were among the highlights last Sunday at the 10th Blue Chip Prospects/Suffolk County Football Coaches Association combine held in morning and afternoon sessions at Sachem North.

The best all-around...

Shoreham-Wading River senior Tim Rotanz became the fourth player in Long Island high school boys lacrosse history to total at least 400 points Thursday when he scored a goal during the third quarter of a win at Rocky Point.

Rotanz scored six goals and six assists in his team's 18-6 Division II win.

Rotanz, who now has exactly 400 points, joined the elite club that includes Nicky Galasso...