Northeast Looking To Crop Of Young Talent

By Kevin Murnane
The common thread throughout Northeast’s baseball and softball teams is both are young but have a very talented core of underclassmen.
“Our expectations are that we will end up at the top end of the county baseball standings and challenge for the state championship,” said a confident Adam Bolling, who is entering his fourth year as the skipper of the Eagles baseball team.
Bolling believes he has a very strong nucleus of pitchers and infielders who should be the cornerstone of the team’s success. Junior Brendan O’Malley had a .415 batting average last year, and pitched in many high-intensity games.
“Brendan is being heavily recruited by many colleges, and will be our shortstop when he’s not pitching,” said Bolling.

Junior Jon Powell will be the other dominant pitcher. He posted a 6-3 record last year with a 2.14 ERA. “Josh throws extremely hard… We’ll count on him in big games,” said Bolling.
Other offensive contributions should come from seniors Joe Summerlin, the lead-off hitter with blazing speed; outfielder Billy Milleker; and infielders Nick Mohn and Spencer Blake.
Northeast boasts super-strong junior and sophomore classes, which have lost only five JV games in the last two years. In addition to O’Malley and Powell, the talented junior class includes infielders Joe Rivera and Matt Turnage, outfielders Matt Wilson, Justin Gernert, Michael Knoop, Gage Simmons and David Taylor, catchers TJ Johns and Dillon Atkinson, and pitcher Stephen Griest.
The Eagles have elevated two sophomores as well. Infielders Eric Grantland and Matt Bougourd could see plenty of action this season according to Bolling.
“We should be a fun team to watch. We should have a high-powered offense and some solid pitching,” said Bolling.
The Eagles have been practicing since March 1 in preparation for the County League season, which begins March 25 against Annapolis. Bolling is very proud of the Eagles baseball tradition his goal is to get turn the Eagles into a championship level team every year.
“We are very proud of the players who have gone on to play collegiate ball. I don’t think there is another baseball program in the county that has three former players in the Orioles’ minor league system the likes of Glenn Davis, Gary Helmick and Chorye Spoone,” declared Bolling.
On the girls’ side, the Northeast Softball team has enjoyed a great heritage of championships as well. It also has a long history of producing top-notch collegiate players, but this year’s squad is extremely young, yet extremely talented.
“We don’t have any seniors and only three juniors. The rest of the team is sophomores and freshmen,” said first year coach Joe Hart.
The team will be led by junior pitcher Brittany Magee, highly-acclaimed junior outfielder Keirsten Henderson, who Hart describes as “an awesome player.” Some of the heralded sophomores include Crystal Heffington, Selena Matulonis and Taylor Ditmar, and one of Hart’s top freshmen pitching prospects is Brooke Stienbach.
“We are going to be competitive this year. We are going to play sound defense and manufacture some runs,” said Hart, who comes from the Riviera Beach Spirit organization.
Hart was recruited to lead the Eagles when Coach Joe Thomas passed away last year. “We will dedicate the season to him,” confirmed Hart.
Both teams should challenge for post-season honors this year, and the next several, as the great tradition of Northeast baseball and softball continues.