Housed in a former paperback factory in Astoria, Queens, the tiny Baccalaureate School for Global Education is an elite public high school with a rigorous academic curriculum. Founded in 2002, it has only about 400 students, no gymnasium, no courts and no auditorium.
Students who want to play on the school’s softball team, for example, have to take two subway lines and then walk another 10 minutes to a remote practice field in Woodside. There’s no bus to take them to away games with distant schools in Far Rockaway or Queens Village, and the players have to hope the coach arrives from her other job before the second inning, traffic permitting.
It’s not the ideal setting for an athletic powerhouse, but the Baccalaureate girls’ softball team known as the Sting is anything but good. dominates.
The team, comprised of a cohesive group of dedicated players, went through its 2024 schedule undefeated (14-0) and capped off an incredible season by winning the Public Schools Athletic League 2A division championship, the Baccalaureate’s first title in any sport.
“We’re such a small school,” Sting senior athlete Nina Davidson said. “To win it all is crazy to wrap my head around.”
The Baccalaureate is considered one of the best academic institutions in New York City and is ranked the 10th best public high school in the state by US News & World Report. Students are screened for entry and take college-level courses during the final two years with the goal of receiving an International Baccalaureate diploma.
The workload is demanding, and many of the softball players, like Ariella Fisher, a freshman, do some of their work on the train rides to practices and games because, during the softball season, they are often in a field from dismissal until 6 p.m.
Ariella, who had three hits and three runs in the championship game, is one of two freshmen who give the team even more reason to be optimistic about its future. The other is pitcher Calla McGarvey, who has earned 12 of the Sting’s 14 wins this season, including last Saturday’s 11-4 win over Queens Metropolitan High School, with the game being played at the University of St. John’s.
Heather Page, the Baccalaureate principal, was at the game and said the victory spread joy throughout the school’s small community. “Their run this season, going undefeated,” Ms Page said, “is so inspiring in terms of how you can do so much with so little, facility-wise.”
The old bag factory closed about 20 years ago, and the Baccalaureate, originally housed with another school in Long Island City, Queens, moved to its current location in 2004. The New York Department of Education leases the building from the factory’s original owner , Sharif Designs , which still operates a rooftop showroom.
The only varsity sports the Baccalaureate offers are softball, basketball, soccer and track, but next year it will add table tennis. Although the school does not have a gym, it does have a small hall with a treadmill and some pieces of training equipment. However, there is still no classroom space and any school-wide performance or assembly is held in its modest cafeteria.
“We say it’s the people that make us great, not the building,” Ms. Page said.
Ms Page, who is in her second year of service, has always assumed that any sporting rewards would come from participation, camaraderie, personal development and enjoyment. A sports title in the city was the field of large high schools.
But she credited head coach Tamara Karcher and her assistant, Steven Rabinowitz, a Baccalaureate history teacher, for inspiring the best of the players, whose love of the game helped them overcome logistical obstacles.
Ms. Karcher teaches Spanish at Queens Technical High School. She said the city paid her extra for a few hours a week to coach during the season, but that’s a fraction of the time she spends coordinating practices, transportation, uniforms, schedules, lineups, scouting and fundraising. Ms. Karcher usually brings the equipment to the games, but sometimes shows up late after her teaching job. Until he arrives, Mr. Rabinowitz is in charge.
Ms Karcher said the biggest headache she faced was getting people off the pitches before games when the team had permission to use them. Sometimes there’s a soccer match going on or the kids are making fun. Earlier this season, a man reading a book in a dugout refused to leave, claiming he wasn’t bothering anyone. But it was a potentially dangerous situation.
“The cops got involved, and I’ll leave it at that,” Ms Karcher said. “It’s unpleasant for girls to have to deal with this.”
But the players remained focused and defied expectations. In fact, Ms. Karcher and Mr. Rabinowitz even stepped up the challenge. When the coaches scanned their roster before the season, they suspected the team was too good for Class 1A and asked the Public Schools Athletic League to move the Sting to 2A, the middle tier.
The team has still beaten all comers and is now on the cusp of a dynasty. Nina, the curlew and the star, will return next year. Originally a baseball player, Nina was persuaded to play softball for one simple reason: The Baccalaureate does not offer baseball. She also tore her ACL in 2022 and missed all of last year, making this season’s accomplishments all the sweeter.
Now he hopes to play in college, at Binghamton University or Fordham. She led the city in half a dozen offensive categories, and that would have included home runs if Ms. Karcher hadn’t stranded her at third base several times when the Sting already had a huge lead. That included last week’s convincing title game.
“It was a relief when we won,” said Ariella, the freshman catcher. “We didn’t know what it was like to lose and we didn’t want to hit it.”
To celebrate, the school held a small ceremony in the cafeteria Wednesday, complete with a cake from Costco and a championship banner, which the players signed. Ms Karcher took time off from her main job to be there, calling the championship the pinnacle of her career.
“At the end of the day, we are teachers and the goal is to help children develop into intelligent, confident and caring human beings,” she said. “When you see it happen, it’s the best feeling in the world. It’s euphoria.”
