Southampton/Pierson Golf Wins Back-to-Back County Championships

The Southampton/Pierson girls golf team is back-to-back Section XI Champion.

The Mariners secured their second consecutive county title on Tuesday afternoon at Middle Island Country Club, finishing with a two-day team stroke total of 946, 25 shots ahead of second-place Ward Melville.

Head coach Edgar “Hikey” Franklin noted that after going undefeated in League IV play the past two years, and winning the county title twice now, his team has been 26-0 during that stretch.

And to win this year, in some harsh conditions, is even more impressive, Franklin said.

Both days of the county tournament were very windy, though Monday was probably a little worse than Tuesday, by most accounts. That didn’t seem to both the girls much — they held a rather comfortable lead after Monday’s round, with a 451.

The victory for Southampton/Pierson puts the team in the Long Island Championship this Tuesday, May 27, at Bethpage State Park. They will face the Nassau County champion, which is still to be determined.

That’s just been the way the Mariners have played all season, Franklin said. He harkened back to the last week of the regular season, when, due to a number of postponements, mainly due to weather, the team had to play four matches in as many days. It was far from easy to remain undefeated then, but it prepared the team in the long run.

“To go 26-0 is pretty amazing, and hard to do in any sport, and to do it in some of the conditions that we’ve had to play in, where it’s cold, windy, rainy, sometimes all of those together, it’s not an easy task,” he said.

“The girls fought every match and they did what they needed to do. They had to grind out some wins, but they made the shots when they needed to, and I’m proud of the way they’ve played.”

While the Mariners defeated Ward Melville in the team portion of the county championship, it went the other way in the individual portion.

Southampton freshman Elie Poremba and Ward Melville junior Ella Girard were tied after the first day of play, after both shot 76, and it went all the way down to the final hole on Tuesday to decide the individual champion.

Both Poremba and Girard hit solid shots onto the fairway off their tees, and followed up with good second shots. Neither was going to putt for birdie on their third shots, and neither tallied a par, but Girard bogied the hole to win by five shots.

“It was a great round of golf for both girls,” Franklin said. “Under the circumstances, with the wind being what it was, and the course played long today, I think a little fatigue set in overall for all of the girls as individuals.”

By placing second, Poremba easily finished within the top nine state qualifying spots and will compete in the New York State Championships for the third year in a row. The State Championships will be played at Wild Wood Country Club in Rush, New York, just south of Rochester, June 7 to 9.

“I’m really happy with how I placed individually, and that I get to go to states again,” Poremba said. “Obviously I would have liked to win it, but I had a little bit of a rough day today. I was tied for first after yesterday, and it was close for a while today, but I just lost it eventually.”

Poremba and her teammates are obviously ecstatic to win another county championship.

“I’m really proud of us this year,” Poremba said. “Our bond got so much closer. We were able to come together and be there for each other and pull each other up when we had a bad day or if we were struggling in practice.”

“It’s really exciting. I’m so proud of my ream and so proud of Elie,” senior Jillian Swiatocha said. “There were some pretty tough conditions, especially yesterday. It was already nerve-wracking, being that it was the first day, but there was pollen blowing everywhere. It was a bit better on the back nine, but it was still definitely tricky.”

Swiatocha finished with a 193, while senior teammate Kathryn Blackmore finished just two shots behind her, at 195. Pierson junior Virginia Kasselakis shot a 198, while Southampton seventh-grader Zoe Coady shot a 199, and junior Reese Swiatochia shot a 209.

“These girls should be proud of what they accomplished,” Franklin said. “The seniors are going out on top the way they deserve. They’ve been a big part of the process for this team and helped form the program the way it is now.

“After we had lost to Sachem a couple of years back, we knew our day was going to come — and it has now, with two county championships.”