BARDONIA — It's game two for the 2025 Albertus Magnus Falcons and so far, the offense has shown up.
The reigning Section 1 Class B champs posted 19 hits in their 15-3 win over visiting Dobbs Ferry in five innings but this game had significance for Falcons ace Teagan Dwyer and longtime coach Carl D'Alba.
With her seventh strikeout in the top of the fourth inning, Dwyer broke the school's all-time strikeout record which was set in 2019 by Kelly O'Brien (629). She finished the game with nine strikeouts, so the record stands at 632 and climbing.
"It's so special to me," Dwyer said. "I give credit to my catcher Vanessa (Gonzalez) who's been there all the way, every single strike, every single ball, every single strikeout. It's very special to me, especially this being my senior year, and I'm just going to keep going from here."
For D'Alba, who's been coaching for 21 years, Tuesday's game was win number 300.
"It's a huge milestone for me," D'Alba said. "Being in the league for 21 years and in that amount of time, 300 wins, it's exciting."
The Falcons come into the season with a very senior-heavy lineup led by Dwyer, sisters Madelyn and Lizzie Geary, and Gonzalez.
"I feel very good," Gonzalez said. "We're a very close-knit team in a very similiar way to last year. We lost two people who were crucial but we have two people filling in those spots. I see a lot of success for our team in the future."
A lot of the success for the Falcons (2-0) going forward will be from their offense. In the win over Dobbs Ferry, all but one batter had at least two hits.
"It's only our second game so we are little rusty with the bats," Dwyer said. "We did start off slow. After the first inning, Vanessa, Maddie, Lizzie and I told the girls to move up in the box because the pitcher wasn't as fast as the second one. And to be aggressive and jump on the first pitch. That's what worked for us in the end."
The success of the team will go on the arm of Dwyer and she had a solid day in the circle Tuesday. In five innings, she gave up three runs, allowed seven hits, two walks and struck out nine.
The team is excited to see where this season goes as the team that's being chased by the rest of Class B
"We have a few new players," D'Alba said. "We have a couple of freshmen starting. They're going to go through their growing pains but by mid-season, they'll be up to speed. We hope to make a run at the Section 1 title, which is the first goal but one step at a time."
