Cosmos teams can high-five for the season

By Ian Perrotta

The final whistle has blown for Hamtramck’s spring sports teams.

In its first season under new coach Lauren Ealba, the girls’ soccer team went an impressive 6-10 on the season. While it may seem that the record would indicate a losing season, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Before the season started, the team hadn’t won a game in nearly five years. Also coming back into the program after a prolonged absence was the presentation of varsity letters, which happened at an awards ceremony last week.

Head Coach Lauren Ealba attributes the program’s turnaround to her players’ hard work and determination. At the beginning of the season, many of the girls were unfamiliar with the fundamentals of the game and hardly knew the rules. But by the end of it, the lady Cosmos were working and coming together as a team.

“The girls did really well this year, and improved tremendously,” she said. “It was a great first year and I’m looking forward to doing even better next year.”

Elsewhere in the school, the Cosmos’ varsity baseball team also had a very successful year. In their second-to-last game, the Cosmos defeated Crockett Technical High School 15-1 in round one of the District Championship. Pitcher Jarkarri Bonner had 14 strikeouts, one walk and one hit in that effort.

During that game, Mohammed Zindani went four-for-four with four RBIs, while Omar Thabet and Craig Bonner each went three-for-four with two RBIs. Aven Olko went two-for-two with two RBIs.

In the final game of the season, which was also the District Championship, the Cosmos lost a tough battle against Renaissance High. The game went into 11 innings before Hamtramck was ultimately defeated by a score of 8-7.

“Jarkkari Bonner did some great pitching over the weekend,” said Head Coach Carl Norman. “The best pitching I’ve seen in a while.”

The team’s final record was 10-12 – one game shy of the preseason goal of finishing with a .500 record. Though the team failed to achieve that goal, it too came a long way throughout the course of the season.

And there’s always next year.

Hamtramck High Varsity Baseball
#2 Nagi Hussain
#3 Craig Bonner
#4 Norealdan Alkusaimi
#5 Omar Thabet
#7 Hilan Ashabi
#8 Daric Olko
#9 Eldin Paric
#11 Ali Aleghain
#13 Deantre Teat
#17 Delwar Miah
#19 Jarkkari Bonner
#21 Mohammed Zindani
#22 Johnny Smith
#31 Aven Olko

(Girls’ soccer team roster was unavailable)