COLLEGE SOFTBALL: CITES, VILLANOVA EXCITED FOR CHANCE TO DEFEND THEIR BIG EAST TITLE (2022-05-06)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
When Tess Cites was younger she was watching players like Paige Rauch and looking up to the things they were doing.

Now, Cites, a Horseheads graduate, is teammates with Rauch, and it’s crazy for the former Blue Raiders star to know that younger kids are looking up to her now.

“It is really special, because it is kind of cyclical,” Cites said. “When I was younger I looked up to Paige and other players older than me (out of Section 4) that went D1 or D2 and that was really special. I got to look up to those players and now I see a lot of young players following me on Twitter or family friends saying how they are watching me. It’s really awesome. It’s really kind of fulfilling because you don’t understand how many people you impact by playing the game. The softball community ic close knit because of how people look up to other players. Just being able to go back and help out and see the younger players is really special.”

A year ago Cites played in 34 games as a freshman, helping Villanova win the Big East Title and reach the NCAA Tournament.  In the tournament Cites had a starring role, delivering an RBI single in a 4-3 win over UMBC and then hit a pinch-hit home run against Ole Miss. She went 2-for-4 with two RBI over three games in the tournament.

This year Cites has played in 43 games, with 28 starts, notching 17 hits on the year with two home runs, nine rBI and 10 runs scored She is 7-for-8 in stolen bases and has a .392 on-base percentage.

“It’s really fun, we have been doing really well these last couple of weeks,” Cites said. “It’s been fun being on a team and all benefiting from our hard work all season.”

Villanova is 28-20 on the year as they head into a regular-season ending series with UConn today through Sunday. Villanova won 12 straight before a loss to Seton Hall a week ago. They have won two straight since and are on a streak of 14 wins in their past 15 games.

“We just finished against Seton Hall and this weekend we are in Storrs against UConn and then the week after we are leaving Wednesday or Thursday for the Big East Tournament,” Cites said. “With our win on Saturday we secured a spot in the Big East Tournament.”

Clinching a spot in the Big East Tourney before the final series takes some pressure off, but the team still knows they are facing a team they played in the conference final a year ago.

“It’s kind of a weird feeling, like I feel like a lot of pressure is off, at the same time it’s exciting to know how capable we are,” Cites said. “We know we have the components of winning a Big East Title. Locking a spot in the tournament there is an extra boost of confidence in ourselves and each other knowing we are capable. It makes this weekend less stressful, it’s another opportunity to get better and to play the team who we beat in the championship last year.”

Cites is one of three Section 4 athletes on this year’s team, with Binghamton graduate Rauch, and Maine-Endwell’s Amanda DeSantis.

For Cites there was a time when she was a freshman in high school that she faced Rauch. Now she’s teammates with her and it’s much more fun having her as a teammate.

“When she was a senior I was a freshman and I was on varsity at that time,” Cites said. “It’s way more fun when she’s on your team and you are behind her on defense then going against her at the plate.

“It’s fo funny because when I was younger Paige was just a fantastic player. She’s a great teammate. When I was in high school she was so intimidating, and now to see the other side as a teammate it’s fun. We have live hitting in practice and I’ve had to hit off her and it’s just as hard as it was four years ago.”

Rauch threw her second career no-hitter for Villanova recently and she’s the ace on the pitching staff, while also leading the team on offense with 10 home runs.

For the Horseheads graduate it’s nice to have some other Section 4 players on the team that knows all about what it’s like where she’s from.

“It’s awesome,” Cites said. “It’s actually cool to talk to someone that knows about home and where I’m from. And Amanda Desantis is from Maine-Endwell and there are three of us from Section 4. It’s nice, not a lot of people know where I’m from. It’s nice having a reminder of home, even if just to talk about past players and things that are unique to Section 4 and have a piece of home also on the team.”

It’s also special for Cites to see multiple players from Section 4 playing at the same Big East school.

“That’s awesome,” Cites said. “It goes to show kind of no matter where you are from or what high school you went to, work ethic can take you as far as you want to go.”

For Cites it’s a lot of fun to follow what some of her former teammates are doing in college, and see all of their success, and the success of all the former Section 4 players.

“Alli Richmond (at Binghamton) and I talk very often, I reach out to her and ask how she is doing,” Cites said. “I follow what other people are doing. It’s really cool with social media you get to see a lot of things that my former teammates are up to and it’s really awesome seeing the people have success. To find past teammates and friends have success is awesome feeling.”

Cites homered in her first game this year, and had both home runs in the first six games this year. She had a stretch in the middle of the year where she didn’t hit as well, but now she has three hits in the past three games. For Cites she knows in softball there will always be ups and downs.

“I would probably say in the beginning we had a really good, strong start,” Cites said. “Softball has definitely taught me highs and lows. The highs you are on top of the world, the lows you have to keep improving and learning things. You just have to excel on focusing on the moment which will hopefully pay out in the long run.”

With Covid this is the first more normal season in a while for Cites, it’s made this year almost feel like a second freshman year.

“Last year was so weird,” Cites said. “It’s almost like I’m a freshman all over again, I never had the opportunity to have a real freshman year without Covid restrictions. I was kind of a freshman two times. But, each year I have been here have been equally as special. Even though freshman year was not as normal I got to make so many friends. It did feel like a shorter season and this year feels longer. But, it’s just an awesome to experience what a real year is like being a D1 athlete. It was nice freshman year to ease into it at a slower pace and do a little dip of the toe in before going fully in. It’s something I have really enjoyed about the difference between last year.

“It’s crazy, I haven’t had a normal year since junior year of high school. We are so fortunate and blessed this year has gone, knock on wood, as good as it has. I feel like stuff is going back to normal. We had the mask mandate lifted halfway through the semester. Class has been normal, in person, we have practiced without a mask and been in the weight room. I feel very fortunate for this year, to say the least.”

It’s wild for Cites to think that she’s finishing up her second year of college.

“It’s crazy, I finish school tomorrow,” Cites said. “I have two finals and I’m officially a junior. I was talking to my moms about this and I can’t believe I’m (about to be) a junior in college. I’ve been here two years and feel like we have so much to learn.

“Just a lesson college has taught me, especially being a D1 athlete, is there is always time to learn from others, always time to kind of reevaluate yourself and how can I help myself. It’s just something I have learned over the past two years. It’s crazy even saying past two years, I can’t believe I’ve been here two years.”

Cites is excited to see what happens the rest of this season, and into the future.

“I’m so excited, it’s just so fun because my teammates that were on the team last year are talking about it, how bad we want to go back to a regional tournament,” Cites said. “Just being able to go to Arizona last year, just the experience, the big-time school atmosphere, playing the best teams in the country. Its’ fun, you get to go there, had a fun time with your teammates and travel and have fun with your coaches. I just know we are more than capable and have every component necessary to be there again.”

Cites knows that for players like Rauch this is their last games, and the team wants them to go out in style.

“We have a great group of two super seniors, Paige and Angela Giampolo, and some seniors who are gradating and some who are staying for their fifth year. It’s awesome, it makes it that much more special knowing some players are not returning next year due to graduation. It makes it so much more important to secure wins this upcoming weekend and in the Big East Tournament and onto regionals.”
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF VILLANOVA ATHLETICS.