The Puxi activities season has officially begun! Both campuses celebrated a combined 100 APAC championships last year, with Puxi accounting for 53, excluding the 16 that were won before the separation of campuses. Multiple teams would look to repeat; Varsity Girls Volleyball and Varsity Girls Tennis were Super APAC champions last year, while Varsity Girls Rugby and Varsity Girls XC both brought home APAC championships as well. Varsity Baseball and Varsity Boys Volleyball are seeking vengeance after tough losses in the championships in the previous year. The Varsity Boys Rugby team is also looking for revenge after a 4th place APAC finish; they were part of a three- way tie for second that came down to points as the tie-breaker. The Varsity Boys XC and Varsity Boys Tennis, respectively, are also seeking glory after 3rd place finishes last year.
PUXI BASEBALL STARTS OUT THE YEAR WITH SEASON OPENER AGAINST PUDONG
The varsity baseball season opener between the two SAS campuses started off as a pitching duel. Carter Mott tossed three shutout innings, striking out six and limiting the Pudong offense to only one hit. However, Pudong starter #21 also kept Puxi handcuffed, only allowing 5 hits, striking out six, and walking none in his three innings pitched. Aidan Dungan took the mound in the fourth and kept the score tied at 0-0, but Pudong blew the game open in the fifth, scoring 6 runs. Puxi wasn’t able to recover, and lost 0-6. “I thought we played relatively well throughout most of the game, and got on ourselves about a few mistakes that we made towards the end of the game which caused us to lose focus, and dug ourselves into a pretty big hole.” Carter Mott said, speaking on the team’s performance after the game. “As of now, our team is focusing on slowing down the game, getting more comfortable with hitting, fielding, and putting the ball in play so other teams can make mistakes.”
Despite the loss, there were flashes of future potential. Johnny Miller, for example, had a solid varsity debut, batting 5th and starting in center field. He went 1-for-2 with a single, recording a walk and a hit-by-pitch, while also swiping a bag. “We have a pretty young core, and I feel like gaining experience, and bettering ourselves as a team would set us up really well to win APAC a few years in a row.” Carter also said when asked about the team.
“The goal for us is pretty simple: to win China Cup, and APAC, and we feel like we have the team to do that,” Carter added when asked about the team’s goals this season, “I’m confident in the team we have, and I look forward to building on the finish we had last year, which was the highest finish we’ve had since 2005.”
Puxi would be looking to bounce back from the loss in Shanghai Cup at CISS, which would start off with a rematch against Pudong.
The JV team also finished off their season opener with with an impressive 21-5 win against the Pudong JV team. Puxi scored a couple runs early, loading up the bases and scoring 8 runs in the first inning. The momentum was carried into the second inning, in which Puxi scored another 10 runs. Another 3 runs were scored in the third before the umpires called the game, concluding the matchup between the two campuses.
The Activities Council also continued a tradition to kick off the activities season, giving out free hot dogs for those who attended the games. Noise makers and drinks were also provided, along with a couple Eagle Pride shirts being sold to support the school spirit.
Alice Qin
PUXI VOLLEYBALL STARTS OFF SEASON WITH A CLEAN SWEEP
All of Puxi’s volleyball teams started the season off with a clean sweep.
The girls varsity team defeated Concordia in a 4-1 win and Pudong in a 5-0 win, winning 9 of their 10 sets. “I feel like the games went really well, and I think we started the season off great.” Sarah Markmann said of the team’s wins. “I think our serves were really strong, but I think we can still work on our consistency, especially for our passing and serving.”
However, winning was not the only priority. “Our team talked about what kind of an environment we wanted to have for our team during practice and games, and we all agreed that we wanted to have a very encouraging, energetic, loud and positive team.” Sarah also said of the team’s dynamic.
The boys varsity team also pulled off two 4-1 wins against Concordia and Pudong, respectively. When Ryan Jin was asked about the team’s performance, he said that “attacking when we got the chance to” and “effectively using various attack options” contributed to the wins. “Reducing our own errors” especially in areas such as passing, and “playing more systematically and organized” are areas of improvement for the team.
The JV girls team also finished off with two 3-0 wins against SSIS and YCIS. “Our team already has amazing skills and ability to serve, pass, and spike,” Madeline Hsu said of the team’s strengths, “however, what was lacking is team spirit. Sometimes we overlook how important the spirit of the team is to the game. Even just a cheer as a group, and talking louder to take the ball lifts the spirit.”
All teams would be looking to compete for similar results in the upcoming Shanghai Cup, in which two of our teams, JV1 Girls and Varsity Girls, would face off against each other on Friday.
Alice Qin
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| (photo courtesy of Activities Council) |
PUXI BASEBALL STARTS OUT THE YEAR WITH SEASON OPENER AGAINST PUDONG
The varsity baseball season opener between the two SAS campuses started off as a pitching duel. Carter Mott tossed three shutout innings, striking out six and limiting the Pudong offense to only one hit. However, Pudong starter #21 also kept Puxi handcuffed, only allowing 5 hits, striking out six, and walking none in his three innings pitched. Aidan Dungan took the mound in the fourth and kept the score tied at 0-0, but Pudong blew the game open in the fifth, scoring 6 runs. Puxi wasn’t able to recover, and lost 0-6. “I thought we played relatively well throughout most of the game, and got on ourselves about a few mistakes that we made towards the end of the game which caused us to lose focus, and dug ourselves into a pretty big hole.” Carter Mott said, speaking on the team’s performance after the game. “As of now, our team is focusing on slowing down the game, getting more comfortable with hitting, fielding, and putting the ball in play so other teams can make mistakes.”
Despite the loss, there were flashes of future potential. Johnny Miller, for example, had a solid varsity debut, batting 5th and starting in center field. He went 1-for-2 with a single, recording a walk and a hit-by-pitch, while also swiping a bag. “We have a pretty young core, and I feel like gaining experience, and bettering ourselves as a team would set us up really well to win APAC a few years in a row.” Carter also said when asked about the team.
“The goal for us is pretty simple: to win China Cup, and APAC, and we feel like we have the team to do that,” Carter added when asked about the team’s goals this season, “I’m confident in the team we have, and I look forward to building on the finish we had last year, which was the highest finish we’ve had since 2005.”
Puxi would be looking to bounce back from the loss in Shanghai Cup at CISS, which would start off with a rematch against Pudong.
The JV team also finished off their season opener with with an impressive 21-5 win against the Pudong JV team. Puxi scored a couple runs early, loading up the bases and scoring 8 runs in the first inning. The momentum was carried into the second inning, in which Puxi scored another 10 runs. Another 3 runs were scored in the third before the umpires called the game, concluding the matchup between the two campuses.
The Activities Council also continued a tradition to kick off the activities season, giving out free hot dogs for those who attended the games. Noise makers and drinks were also provided, along with a couple Eagle Pride shirts being sold to support the school spirit.
Alice Qin
PUXI VOLLEYBALL STARTS OFF SEASON WITH A CLEAN SWEEP
All of Puxi’s volleyball teams started the season off with a clean sweep.
The girls varsity team defeated Concordia in a 4-1 win and Pudong in a 5-0 win, winning 9 of their 10 sets. “I feel like the games went really well, and I think we started the season off great.” Sarah Markmann said of the team’s wins. “I think our serves were really strong, but I think we can still work on our consistency, especially for our passing and serving.”
However, winning was not the only priority. “Our team talked about what kind of an environment we wanted to have for our team during practice and games, and we all agreed that we wanted to have a very encouraging, energetic, loud and positive team.” Sarah also said of the team’s dynamic.
The boys varsity team also pulled off two 4-1 wins against Concordia and Pudong, respectively. When Ryan Jin was asked about the team’s performance, he said that “attacking when we got the chance to” and “effectively using various attack options” contributed to the wins. “Reducing our own errors” especially in areas such as passing, and “playing more systematically and organized” are areas of improvement for the team.
The JV girls team also finished off with two 3-0 wins against SSIS and YCIS. “Our team already has amazing skills and ability to serve, pass, and spike,” Madeline Hsu said of the team’s strengths, “however, what was lacking is team spirit. Sometimes we overlook how important the spirit of the team is to the game. Even just a cheer as a group, and talking louder to take the ball lifts the spirit.”
All teams would be looking to compete for similar results in the upcoming Shanghai Cup, in which two of our teams, JV1 Girls and Varsity Girls, would face off against each other on Friday.
Alice Qin
