MAHOPAC, N.Y.—Between junior OF Nate Mascoll and junior C Drew Lichtenberger Mahopac HS has two of the finest individual talents in all of Section 1 on the diamond this spring, potential college players, for sure, depending on additional development.
But that won’t amount to a hill of beans if the Wolf Pac can’t throw more than a few capable pitchers out there on the hill to form a competent staff. That’s the situation Mahopac Coach Anthony Nappi hopes to avoid if the Wolf Pac (14-7-1) can’t develop enough hurlers behind senior ace Jovani Segarra. The lefty will eat up as many innings as possible, but the staff will need to develop in a hurry in order to make up for the massive losses to graduation, including All-Section hurlers Tyler Castrataro (Hofstra) and Tyler DeBrocky (Canisius), who were equally pivotal at the plate.
“We graduated five starting position players and almost all of our pitchers,” Nappi said.
Mascoll and Lichtenberger will assume as much responsibility as possible; each has next-level potential and has honed his skill sets for many years as part of the Taconic Rangers, among the finest summer travel organizations in the state.
“Obviously, it’s tough when you lose players like we had last year in Castrataro and DeBrocky, but we have a bunch of good players coming up who all know their roles and what they need to do to help the team win,” Lichtenberger said. “It’s tough to beat a team when every player on the team shows up every day and is always focused on what we need to do to win baseball games. That’s why I think this group of guys is going to be a strong and tough team.”
Additional key veterans include junior SS Vince Cataldo, senior 1B/3B Jack Moeller, senior OF Jayson Mayer, senior OF Nick Tardio, and senior OF Anthony Eppolito. There are several additional strong rookies competing for jobs, according to Nappi.
After earning the No.1 seed last season, Mahopac lost a nailbiter to Eastchester, 1-0, in the semifinal round of the tournament. The Wolf Pac will now be one of 17 teams in Class AA this season hoping to represent Section 1 in the state tournament, but procuring a top seed out of League I-D will be anything but easy with the likes of Yorktown, John Jay CR, Somers, Brewster, and rival Carmel vying for the league flag.
“We just want to compete for 21 outs every single game and look up and see where that gets us,” Nappi said. “If we focus on the little things we think it’ll lead us to a successful year.”
Beyond the league, expect the usual suspects to challenge for the Section 1 crown, including 2024 runners-up Fox Lane, 2024 sectional champion Eastchester, and formidable Rockland County powers like Suffern, Clarkstown South and North.
“We have a very new group but they are very dedicated, tough and are hard workers,” Nappi said. “We will rely heavily on senior and returning leadership to bring along our newcomers, but I am excited to get out there and see what we’re made of.”
Mahopac's season opens on Tuesday, April 1 against Byram Hills.
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