Coach sees more growth in CAL for girls golf because of talent in S.J.
SOMERS POINT — The Red Raider golf team will be led by a trio of seniors this year and, for the first time, Ocean City High School is fielding a separate girls golf team.
The top three players for the Raiders are seniors Alexander Bayham, Sam Ritti and Logan Ochs, according to head coach Ed Ritti. Number four in the lineup is freshman Archie Schreiber and the fifth and sixth positions are open for competition. The coach expects a lot of that this season.
“We have competitions in practice and make it an earned position because we really have about eight different people who can fit into those spots and part of learning golf is learning how to play under pressure,” he said. “We feel it’s a good way to develop dealing with pressure.”
Ritti said his team is “really deep” this season.
“I think we’re deeper than we’ve been in a while. I think our top three guys could go out and shoot a really good score one day or run into some bumps along the way. I think we could have some really good days here and we could really have some bad days,” he added. “Ultimately, we’re building toward that first week in May with some of the tournaments, the state tournament, and our goal is to succeed in them.”
He believes the Mainland Regional High School team, a perennially high-performing squad, will be the one to beat this season.
“I think the Mainland boys team is very strong and they still have a co-ed team. They’ve got a couple of girls who can really play, too, so they’re definitely number one. I see other teams that are really improved, really good, that we are going to compete with whether it’s Vineland or Hammonton or some of the others. They are going to make matches fun and competitive.”
He made the point the focus is not all wins and losses.
“Our focus is to hit on the 165 mark on the overall score. If it’s below that, we’re happy. If it’s above that, we hope that doesn’t happen often.”
New girls team
“We’ve been building the girls program here for quite a few years,” the coach said. The Raiders have been co-ed.
“They’ve always had to compete with the boys, which I think has held back some of the girls’ participation unless they were really good. It’s very intimidating to play with the boys.”
The Raiders had five girls out for the team and a sixth that has joined in.
They include seniors Ava Williams and Isabela Sparacio, junior Mia Kaczmarski, sophomores Masey Heenan and Lillian Flora and Alexia Scouloudis.
Ritti said there is a strong competition among Williams, Kaczmarski and Flora for the number one spot and he expects them to rotate through that position throughout the year.
“They all have fun together and they all kind of push each other, which is good, but they’re all very supportive of one another,” Ritti said.
The coach noted there are more girls teams being formed but it is not nearly as extensive as the boys and co-ed teams.
He said Egg Harbor Township started a girls program and the Raiders are trying to work out scheduling with Buena and Vineland.
There will be individual girls matches Wednesdays in the Cape-Atlantic League. That began last year and elevated the number of girls competing, Ritti said.
“I think we’re hitting like an exponential growth here in the CAL with the girls. I’d love to see a couple other schools add girls teams because there’s a lot of talent in South Jersey and they just need a place to compete,” he said.
The teams opened their season March 17 against Kingsway in rough conditions at RiverWinds Golf Club in West Deptford. The boys lost 174-162, but the girls won by a sizable margin.
“It was some of the worst conditions we played in, which is par for the course in South Jersey. It was blowing between 35 and 40 miles per hour just off the Delaware River and it was cold,” Ritti said.
The boys bounced back with a 167-186 win over Woodstown on March 20 on their home course at Great Bay Country Club in Somers Point.
Sam Ritti had the low score on the day, a 39. Teammates Bayham and Ochs scored 42 each and Schreiber had a 44.
The Raiders were playing Southern Regional on Tuesday at the Ocean Acres Country Club and the girls were scheduled for today, March 26, at McCullough’s Emerald Golf Links in Egg Harbor Township. The boys are at Buena Vista Country Club at the same time.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff