Massapequa sports teams thriving even as contentious legal battle over mascot rages on
It's a spring of Pequa pride.
This week, the Massapequa girls lacrosse team won the county title over Port Washington, 11-9, while the boys lacrosse team reached the finals against the same school — just as both its softball and baseball teams also earned a date for the Nassau championship.
'It's a sports town. Boys, girls, all fall, winter and spring,' Massapequa baseball manager Tom Sheedy told The Post.
'They've played in elimination games and tournaments their whole life. It's another game. … They've been through the pressure.'
Nevertheless, this year, things are hitting closer to home than usual, with a lot more on the line than some trophies.
Massapequa has been entrenched in a contentious legal battle against the state's 2023 mandate to remove all Native American-connected logos in New York schools.
President Donald Trump has even gotten involved, strongly siding with the town after a plea from school board president Kerry Wachter, who is welcoming Secretary of Education Linda McMahon for a campus tour over the issue Friday.
4 A picture of the Chiefs mural at Massapequa High School. The Chiefs nickname controversy has made national headlines this year.
Heather Khalifa for New York Post
'I think if it is our last year being a Chief, then it's a good way to go out,' 12th-grade softball catcher Sienna Perino said ahead of the team's 6-2 victory in Thursday's Game 1 of a best-of-three series against Oceanside — the school that beat Massapequa in the finals last year.
Revenge tour
The top-seeded softball team nicknamed itself 'vengeance' for the 2025 season as motivation to get the job done against No. 3 Oceanside this time around, Perino said.
Added senior valedictorian and outfielder Samantha Portz: 'We've become a family, and we know when we step on the field … we've built that connection. We trust each other. I definitely think that will help us move forward.'
4 Left to right: Shea Santiago, Sienna Perino and Samantha Portz and their Massapequa teammates will be battling for the Nassau softball championship.
Heather Khalifa for New York Post
Off the diamond, where the team posted an 18-5 record, 'vengeance' has multiple meanings, Perino added.
The girls also are looking to make a statement and feed off the national attention the tight-knit South Shore community has garnered since Trump declared, 'LONG LIVE THE MASSAPEQUA CHIEFS!' on Truth Social — posting a photo with a school shirt in the Oval Office just days later in April.
'It represents who we are,' Portz added. 'This town is really close. We're all proud to represent our community, the school, as Chiefs.'
Swinging for the fences
The second-seeded Chiefs baseball team (16-7), which is gearing up to battle next-door rival No. 1 Farmingdale, also aims to put an exclamation point on the 2025 season as uncertainty surrounds the name.
'I've been here 30 years. There's never been a player, ever, not very, very proud to be a Chief,' Sheedy said. 'It means the world to them. The players are definitely aware of what's going on, and they feel very strongly about how they hope it turns out.'
Senior lefty pitcher Thomas Harding is taking town pride to heart and inspiring others on the squad to do the same.
4 Thomas Harding (let) and Jason Romance and their Massapequa teammates will be battling for the Nassau baseball championship.
Heather Khalifa for New York Post
'I think that with the possibility of the name being taken away, we are more motivated to keep the name alive — and keep its legacy,' he said.
Logo lamentations aside, Massapequa has unfinished business after an excruciating semifinal loss to Port Wash last season — especially for its potential last class of Chiefs.
'We also have to have a sense of urgency that this could be our last game,' senior first baseman Jason Romance said. 'So we have to play harder than ever. … It would be very cool if Trump watches us play.'
4 Massapequa baseball head coach Tom Sheedy
Heather Khalifa for New York Post
Sheedy also is going to the well for a young player with big game experience — 10th-grade JV call-up catcher Ryan Huksloot, who played in the 2022 Little League World Series with Massapequa Coast.
'The big thing with us is that we rode how we felt back then,' Huksloot said. 'So if we keep riding the vibes right now and we stay within ourselves, then it's gonna be an easy road for us.'
And no matter how the finals go — or the litigious fight over the name — nothing will change how the players look back on their years with MHS.
'I'm very proud to be graduating and playing as a Chief,' senior softball pitcher Shea Santiago said.
'We all love being a Chief,' Perino added. 'Once a Chief, always a Chief.'
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