Goshen High School baseball ends memorable season

The Goshen High School baseball program ended a memorable season with double-digit wins against a considerably tough schedule this spring.

“Each game this year carried its own importance and significance,’’ Goshen head coach Stephen Distefano said. “The AA Division is strong, competitive and challenging. But our games versus Minisink Valley stood out to me, as did Cornwall in particular. We lost all four regular season games to both of these teams.

“Being the No. 3 seed during playoffs matched us up versus No. 2 seed Minisink Valley for a semifinal matchup on the road. We won that game in our third contest of the year versus them, in a thrilling back and forth game, 11-8, and making it to the Section IX AA Championship Final for the first time since 2018. Earlier in the year we lost both games to Cornwell, 16-1 and 10-0. Cornwall entered our championship game undefeated at 21-0, while Goshen entered at 10-11. We played a tremendous Championship game that day but fell just short and lost 2 -1.’’

Standout leadership was present on the roster throughout the season for the Gladiators.

“Stephen ‘Tad’ Kovacs, a four year varsity starter, was a leader both on the mound and at short stop,’’ Distefano said. “He also was one of our most consistent hitters and led the team with 16 stolen bases. His experience, work ethic and determination allowed him to lead this team.

“Also, our three year varsity starter Avery Farrell led our team in RBIs with 16 and was our catcher behind the dish, throwing out 14 base runners this year. Several others played important roles and carried leadership qualities that contributed to the team’s dynamic.’’

Coach Distefano was encouraged by the noticeable ways in which the student athletes on the team got better as baseball players this year.

“There wasn’t one player that surprised me with their improvement, this entire team improved,’’ Distefano said. “We carried three seniors, four juniors and seven sophomores this year. All of their growth was wonderful to witness and came from their continued effort, drive and will to learn, improve and succeed.’’

The Gladiators posted six big wins against League competition and there is excitement surrounding the future of the team.

“Well, the youth of the team for one, we do graduate three seniors in Dominic Florio, Grant Musson and Stephen ‘Tad’ Kovacs,’’ Distefano said. “But, having 11 possible returners next year and a solid group coming up through our JV program are all optimistic reasons for us to be excited for next year.’’