LET’S HEAR IT FOR FREEDOM FEET

Amy Purdy, Executive Director Daniel Gale and Evan Strong

Freedom Innovations, makers of prosthetic feet for Champion Parasnowboarders, helped bring two AAS Team Members to the US National Parasnowboard Team . . . and onto the podium in the inaugural Para-Snoboardcross event at the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi Russia.

Gold Medalist Evan Strong and Bronze winner Amy Purdy were among those supported, in part, by a grant to AAS from Freedom Innovations.  The grant also partially supported AAS training for up-and-coming Parasnowboarders Jay Gaines and Andrew Hale, who are targeting the Paralympics in 2018. Andrew placed third in the USASA Nationals Sport Class this season. Additionally resident athlete Arlene Cohen wore Freedom Innovations feet throughout her competition season and successfully placed first at the USASA Nationals as well!

Congrats to all of the AAS riders on there successful season supported by Freedom Feet!

Left to Right - Andrew Hale, James Sides, Arlene Cohen, Sandra Ambotaite and Diane Musgrove

Unified Basketball Plays Hard but Falls to Toll Gate, 55-46

Antonio Piccarillo 's new nickname should be "Silk"....Silk Pilc.

Time and again throughout Thursday afternoon's game against Toll Gate, Antonio could be seen streaking downcourt, leading the Hawks' fast break and smoothly dropping in layup after layup.  To be honest, Antonio almost single-handedly kept our guys in the game, a game that we eventually dropped to the Titans, 55-46.

Antonio dropped 32 points on the Titans.
Yes, you read that correctly...32 points.

Immediately after the game, Antonio reacted to his incredible performance:

listen to ‘Antonio Piccirillo’ on Audioboo

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as throughout the contest, the Titans routinely managed to create some separation between themselves and the Hawks on the scoreboard, only to see our guys fight their way back into the game and then once again lose ground.  In the end, it was just a bit too much of a hill for the Hawks to climb.

It should also be noted that this was the first Unified basketball contest ever broadcast live on The Network. Max Zweiner did a bang-up job in his first extended duty behind the mic as a play-by-by play man, and he was joined for expert analysis from Mr. Monahan, who knows basketball and has extensive experience with the Unified program and Special Olympics.

Other Hawks who made significant contributions were Chris Zimmerly and Austin Crawford (six points each), and Matt Mangilli even splashed the net for a bucket of his own. 

The Unified Hawks will play next at Cranston West, this Wednesday, April 16th, at 3:30 pm.

Baseball Downs Cranston West, Goes to 2-0

Yes, it's quite early in the season, but around here at Hendricken, we sometimes become jaded by the prospect of undefeated teams, to say nothing of undefeated baseball teams. Coming out of the baseball gate 2-0, then, isn't much about which to get excited, nor should we take it for granted.

Yesterday's game is a perfect case in point.  For 6 1/2 innings yesterday, the outcome still very much hung in the balance, as the Hawks were clinging to a 4-3 lead.  When our guys came to bat in the top of the seventh, however, they finally managed to put the issue to rest by plating seven runs en route to an 11-3 victory.  The Providence Journal's slideshow from the game can be seen HERE.

The Hawks travel to Cumberland this afternoon to take on the always-dangerous Clippers at 4pm.

Off the Blocks Fast with Outdoor Track

To this point, spring sports coverage here at The Network has been, admittedly, somewhat sparse, despite the fact that there are seemingly more spring sports than one might care to count.  With baseball, volleyball, lacrosse, golf, tennis, unified basketball, rugby, sailing, and outdoor track all on the table, it will - at some point - be difficult to know where to look first.

So far, we've offered up some coverage of baseball, unified basketball, and volleyball, but now it's time to swing our spotlight onto the auspicious beginning for the outdoor track team, which, on Saturday, competed in the Knights of Columbus Relay and then on Monday in their first dual meet of the spring.

In the K of C relay, the Hawks' victory was sparked by their performance in the 4 X mile race, the four legs of which were run by Avery Ingegneri, Grant Gauthier, Michael Potter, and Colin Tierney.  In fact, it was Colin's other-worldly performance on the back leg that won it for the Hawks, as his 4:23.8 mile helped our guys overcome LaSalle's nine-second lead in the latter part of the race.  It was truly an unbelievable come-from-behind win.

On Monday our guys went up against Classical, Hope, and Cranston East in their first dual meet of the spring season.  The Hawks came out on top 100-54, 147-7, and 154-0 in respective fashion.  The win over Classical was especially noteworthy, since they're one of the Hawks' big divisional rivals and will, no doubt, provide some serious competition down the road.

While there were obviously a lot of quality performances from our guys, the Hawks were first and foremost led by the incomparable Lee Moses, who competed in four events and won them all.  Lee won the 100 meter with a time of 10.9, the 200 (22.7), the long jump (20'3), and was also part of the winning 4 X 100 meter relay team.

Other performances that paved the way for the Hawks were turned in by Colin Tierney in the 1500 meter (1st place, 4:09.1), Dom Parlato in the 3000 (1st, 9:14.3), and Alex Cerbo in the shot put (49 feet).

So, with a cross-country state title during the fall season in the bag and a respectable (but somewhat disappointing) third-place finish at the indoor states behind them, the outdoor Hawks seem to have picked up right where they left off.

Baseball Opens Defense of Title with Win over Lincoln

The four major sports in America - football, baseball, basketball, and hockey - all have their rabid fans and their great moments. It's a good bet, though, that you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who says that opening day in any of the other three compares to baseball's Opening Day, whether it's little league, Babe Ruth, Major League Baseball, or any level in between. 

There's just something that's undefinable about it...maybe it's just that it has a distinctly American feel to it, or it's just that if you try real hard, you can almost taste the summer. No matter how you try to explain it or slice it, it's just a great day, no matter the result of the game or the weather. 

Ah, yes...the weather. 

While The Red Sox were playing their home opener and receiving their world championship rings 50 miles north of us, our baseball Hawks opened their regular season slate by downing the Lincoln Lions, 6-0. As typical of March and early April on the grounds of Ray Pepin Field, it was windy, raw, and cold. In fact, this was a quasi-historic occasion, as The Network broadcast its first-ever baseball game, and for the event we selected what we believed to be the best location and angle, which was on the lower part of the Pepin Gym roof. As viewers can see by watching the game, the angle and broadcast were pretty solid for a first crack at it....



....but my God, it was cold up there. 

Don't ever try that at home, kids. Or at Hendricken, for that matter. 

The latter part of the game can be seen in the first viewer at the top of the page, and the larger portion can be seen here -

            
Video streaming by Ustream

Naturally, Network stalwarts Cam Brennan and Stone Freeman were there to call the action and provide analysis, and Max Zweiner handled Instagram highlights and some of the camera work. 

The season-opening win was sparked by the pitching of Mike ("McNasty") McCaffrey (5 2/3 innings of relatively dominant pitching - six scattered hits, two walks, eight strikeouts), an offensive outburst and some shaky Lincoln defense in the first two innings that netted the Hawks all the runs they would need. Some of those highlights can be seen here:






As the game moved into its latter stages and it appeared that McCaffrey may have been tiring, Coach Holloway brought in sophomore Matt Kennedy to throw water on any possible issues. Kennedy closed out the game, preserved the shutout, and punched out three of his recorded four outs in 1 1/3 innings of work. 

On the whole, then, it was a good day for the Hawks - a solid opening win, and the game ran at a fairly brisk pace, finishing in just about two hours. 

Brisk...that doesn't even begin to explain it.

Hendricken Winter Sports Video for 2013-'14

      

The Network Opens the Spring Sports Season with Volleyball

The winter sports season is officially behind us, and we can look back with satisfaction at it successes, especially the next two state championship banners that will be hoisted to the Pepin Gym rafters, courtesy of the wrestling and basketball teams. Now, it's onto coverage of all things Spring...and last night, we here at The Network got things rolling with volleyball. 

How about this? Is there a better way to start our coverage of spring sports than with a Hendricken-LaSalle grudge match? Okay, it might not initially have the full-frontal combat feel of football and basketball - but, hey - when it comes right down to it, Hawks-Rams will always be Hawks-Rams. 

Unfortunately, the Maroon came out on top last night. LaSalle won in four sets, 3-1, winning the first, third, and fourth matches 25-23, 26-24, and 25-11, while the Hawks took the second, 25-22. Network stalwarts Stone Freeman and Cam Brennan called all the action live, and the entire contest can be seen right here.

            
Video streaming by Ustream

            
Video streaming by Ustream

            
Video streaming by Ustream

            
Video streaming by Ustream

On the whole, the entire contest was very competitive, as the scores of the first three matches attest. The Rams did not, however, leave anything to chance in the fourth and final match, scoring early and often and simply leaving the Hawks in a position from which it would have been quite difficult to come back. Some Hawk highlights can be seen here:















The Hawks played well, as Lough, Flaherty, and Eland were easily the Hawks' most dominant front line of the night. Flaherty led the team in kills, but Eland's back spasms coming into the game somewhat affected his play, and by extension, the Hawks as a team. Nate Gyampo also rolled an ankle during the middle portion of the game. 

The Hawks are in action next tomorrow night, when they take on Mount St. Charles at Pepin Gym at 6:30. That contest will also be broadcast live, right here on The Network.