The #10 Rye Softball team fell in the Class A quarterfinals on Saturday, May 24, dropping a 3-1 game to #2 Ardsley. Rye hung with the heavily favored Panthers, but could not find the timely hit. The loss ends Rye’s season.
Head Coach Alex Tejera was nothing but proud in his postgame remarks to MyRye.com. “A great job of turning around the season,” he said. “We battled until the very end. Almost upset the #2 seed as a #10 seed. We had the tying runs on base when the last out was recorded. Very proud of this team.”
Penelope Gilmore, a horse all year in the circle, took the hard-luck loss despite pitching well. Ava Cross capped her four-year varsity career with a two hit game, the only Rye player with more than one base knock. Reese McGill drove home Clara Meszkat for the Garnets’ only run on the day.
2025 was a huge step in the right direction for Rye despite their overall 8-12-1 record. They improved two games from 2024’s 6-14-1, even with a much younger roster. The Garnets defeated Lakeland in a signature win on May 3 as part of a five-game undefeated streak, which helped them go from 0-7 to a playoff team. They were potentially one big hit away from a semifinals birth in the Class A tournament, which looked unfathomable in April.
And most importantly, they have a brand new, state-of-the-art, on-campus home field to play on for the foreseeable future. They will have almost entirely the same roster in 2026, as Cross is the only graduating senior. The team can look forward to more home games in April, more development from their returning players, and a real chance to be a contender come next spring.
