Ryan Naccarato coached Marlboro’s softball team for three years, and the team won a state Class B title during his first season in 2016.

Ray Leduc is now the coach, and he takes over a team that entered the postseason in 2018 as the two-seed and exited the playoffs in the quarterfinals with a loss to seven-seed Rondout.

“I expect them to do well,” said Leduc, of his team this season. “We are young.”

Seven of the team’s 12 players are in eighth, ninth and tenth grades, and Melonie Papuli, and Kerriane Camuso, a junior, and Ava Del Salto, a freshman, will take the mound as the pitchers. Emmie-Mae Cabrera, a freshman, will be the catcher.

Kasey Conn, a freshman, will be the shortstop. Carly Correa, a freshman, will play first base, and Elizabeth Leduc, an eighth-grader, will play second base. Isabella Gulcaglayan, a freshman, and Kaitlyn Tudico, a junior, will play third base and left field, Sydney Shuta, a sophomore, will play right field, and Victoria Sorace, a senior, will play centerfield.

“We’re younger than most varsity programs, but they play a lot of softball,” said Leduc. “They are talented, so I am expecting them to do what they have done during the last couple of years.”

The Dukes won a state Class B title in 2016, and Leduc said becoming sectional champions again is a goal this season.

“The sectional title is within reach. They should be in the running for it,” he said.