FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com June 2, 2016 • The Queens Courier 25 ST. FRANCIS PREP SENIOR DISTINGUISH THEMSELVES WITH COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS AND DREAMS Last year, St. Francis Prep’s graduating class distinguished itself with college scholarships totaling over $130 million. This year’s class has far and away eclipsed that, with over $156 million, and growing! On Saturday, June 4th, Prep will be graduating 608 seniors. Students will be going to colleges in forty states, and many foreign counties, including Canada, Greece, and Australia. The Ivy League schools were well represented with students heading off to the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, and Brown University. There is also a diversity of schools, whether it be the City University of New York’s Macauly Honors College (including one student going to CUNY School of Medicine), or the five students going to Carnegie Mellon University, who only accepted six percent of their applicant pool. According to Prep’s Director of College Counseling, Robyn Armon, 99.7% of Prep’s senior class will be attending college in the fall. Those students who do not attend college often enter the military or workforce to earn money to ultimately attend college. She is especially excited to have hosted fifteen onsite visits by colleges this year, where students earned $17 million in scholarship for their freshman year alone. Prep was also recently recommended to be awarded the Middle States Association of College’s and School’s Program of Distinction in School Counseling, after an exhausting self-study and visit by representatives from Middle States. A major part of the Prep’s Guidance department is college counseling. Graduating seniors from St. Francis Prep model their college sweatshirts For more information about St. Francis Prep’s graduating class, or College Counseling Program, please contact: Mrs. Robyn Armon, Chairperson of Guidance and Director of College Counseling, (718) 423-8810, x245, or rarmon@ sfponline.org Late Rally Powers St. Francis Prep To Diocesan Title One of the major storylines for St. Francis Prep this season has been trying to get the offense heated up when a ballgame starts. It took six innings for the Varsity Softball Terriers to finally generate the bats against the stellar pitching of Fontbonne Hall’s Bianca Marletta on Wednesday and it was well worth the wait. Miranda Cintron and Sarah Williams each recorded what could arguably be called the two biggest hits of the season to help the Terriers rally with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and defeat Fontbonne Hall, 3-2, to win the CHSAA Brooklyn-Queens Class AA softball Diocesan title at Preller Field in Bellerose, Queens. “It was mostly for us just to be patient. She Marletta was just pitching a lot inside so we just had to make a mistake. She’s a great pitcher,” Cintron said. “I just saw the fastball and it was inside and it jammed me a bit but I hit it.” The late inning heroics were indeed the right time as Cintron’s two-run single was St. Francis Prep’s first hit to tie the game at 2-2. Williams followed with a line drive RBI hit to centerfield that gave a lead for pitcher Monica Zhivanaj, who held off a strong-hitting Fontbonne Hall lineup to record a complete game performance while scattering six hits. St. Francis Prep clinched a berth to the Catholic state tournament semifinals against the Diocese of Buffalo representative on May 31st at Preller Field. The Terriers are also scheduled to play the CHSAA Class AA city championship game on May 30 against the winner of the Archdiocesan title matchup to be held tomorrow afternoon between St. Joseph by-the-Sea and Cardinal Spellman. “We’ve had so many games like that where we have been cold in the first few innings and for some apparent reason we have to wait too late to be able to get on base, lay a bunt down and jump on them and get a run,” said St. Francis Prep coach Ann Marie Rich. “We’ve able to get the upper hand in the end at least.” Zhivanaj had missed last year’s diocesan best-of-three series with an injury and was motivated to get her team a win. But Fontbonne Hall was also determined to keep their title hopes alive after getting to the championship game via the double-elimination losers bracket and needing to win twice. Bonnies second baseman Alexa Bertelle walked to load the bases with nobody out in the top of the second inning, but the Terriers pitcher retired the next two batters and induced Sam Marletta to line out to first baseman Jazmin Andrews to keep the game scoreless. Fontbonne Hall broke through in the top of the third inning as Natalie Lacognata singled with one out and came home on an RBI double by Emily Manti to give the No. 3 seed a 1-0 advantage. Bertelle doubled to left-center with one out in the top of the fourth inning and later scored on a Cintron throwing error to make it 2-0 Bonnies. But Fontbonne Hall failed to capitalize on critical scoring opportunities to extend the lead and left 8 base runners in a game decided by the closest of margins. “It’s very frustrating. We’ve been hitting pretty well and we keep fighting non-stop. It is frustrating when you see the bases loaded or two runners on base, second and third,” Bianca Marletta said. “It’s frustrating when you know you could have scored something or just squeezed something in.” Lacognata reached on an infield error with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Manti popped out to first base to end Fontbonne Hall’s season. “I’m not going to say we fell short of our goal. I’m not looking it as an excuse but we are a Brooklyn team that plays in the toughest division in softball,” said Fontbonne Hall coach Frank Marinello said. “I’m extremely proud of them and I hope they feel good about themselves when they walk off the field today.” Zhivanaj will enjoy a few days off, go to the school prom, and try to keep St. Francis Prep’s season going as long as it can. “I knew that every senior on this team and every other girl wanted this as much as I did,” Zhivanaj said. “In the beginning, we were a bit shaky because we were just not used to playing with each other yet. And then after the energy started coming, we just got closer and closer in the end.”
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