Pine-Richland girls golfers have short memories, plenty of talent

By: Ted Sarneso
Sunday, September 14, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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The Pine-Richland girls golf team is coming off a brilliant 2024 campaign that included a 12-1 overall record and 11-1 mark in Section 1-3A.

The squad finished fifth in the WPIAL team championships.

That led coach Jared Slimm to borrow a quote from Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni when speaking to his team at the start of the year.

“I heard Sirianni say, ‘Success is like perfume: You can smell it, but you don’t want to taste it. You don’t want to drink it.’ We want to enjoy the success we had last year for the players that were involved.

“But it’s a new season,” said Slimm. “Just because we won the section last year doesn’t mean we will this year. You have to take it upon yourself to take the necessary actions to make sure you reach your goals every time you go out there. It’s not just on autopilot.”

The Rams (8-2, 8-1) have put together another strong season in 2025 with their only section loss coming at the hands of North Allegheny at home on the links at Conley Golf Course.

“We would love to have beaten a strong team like North Allegheny,” said Slimm. “Coach Sarah Morrison has those girls firing on all cylinders, and the growth they’ve shown as a program since she’s been coaching there is really impressive.

“Sometimes it’s good to have those days where not everything is going your way and you have to find ways to fight through it, which will make us tougher on the back end. Hopefully, we’ll be able to show that the next time we play them.”

The loss to the Tigers left the Rams in the second and final playoff spot in the section as of Sept. 9. They had a cushion between themselves and Mars in third place, and there was still a chance for a share of the section crown.

“We do play them again on Sept. 18 and in theory, if we were to beat them at their course at Diamond Run, we would split the section title at that point, and that’s something that’s still on our radar,” said Slimm.

To get that win, the Rams will have to continue to remind themselves, as they have all year, that it’s not the end of the world if they have a bad shot or bad hole. Golf, being as taxing mentally as physically, can lead to a bad shot snowballing on a golfer.

But Slimm has borrowed another slogan from a head coach, this time a fictional one, to help his golfers brush off their mistakes.

“We borrowed this one from Ted Lasso, and we talk about being goldfish,” said Slimm. “The idea is that a goldfish has a terrible memory and their mind resets every 20 seconds. We want to reset after a good or a bad shot. The goal is to have that mentality help our girls generate consistency.”

So far it has worked. The Rams as a team have regularly posted scores between 155 and 166, with three outliers coming in losses to North Allegheny (172) and Fox Chapel (181) and a 175-191 win over Seneca Valley.

Leading the way is junior Siena Smith, who Slimm says is “tremendously talented and never gets rattled.”

“Her ability to scramble and make par when she gets out of position is unbelievable and, quite frankly, a joy to watch,” Slimm said. “She’s embraced the concept of being one of the top players in the section and the WPIAL and the expectations that come with that.”

Another steady player for the Rams is sophomore Marin Raupp. Slimm says she can carry the ball 220 yards off the tee and has hit the ball higher than anyone he’s ever seen.

“We talked with her at the end of last year, with the expectation for her was to make the varsity squad and be a major contributor,” Slimm said. “We know how hard she works, and we’ve seen her pull off shots that few in the section can.”

Pine-Richland has three seniors on the team this year: Giuliana DeRenzo, who is a four-year varsity starter, April Derks, who is new to varsity this year, and Emily Hanlon, who was a varsity starter last year as well.

“Giuliana has shaved off five strokes from her average from her freshman to sophomore year and from sophomore to junior year,” said Slimm. “Each of them has scored in matches for us and has worked tremendously hard to make the team over the years.”

Junior Kate Mazefsky has been on varsity since she was a freshman and is an “unflappable kid.”

“I’m never concerned with her having a bad hole and letting it affect the rest of her round. She’s just steady and consistent,” said Slimm. “Sophomore Piya Dargan is another steady golfer whose driver is automatic, and her hands are so soft around the green, she can get up and down anywhere within 20 yards of the green.”

All seven of the aforementioned golfers have had opportunities to contribute in big spots for the Rams, and as the team heads into the final weeks of the season, Slimm feels comfortable putting any of them into the starting lineup.

“That’s been a rarity here in my six years as head coach,” Slimm said. “We sent five kids to section qualifiers, which stinks because we had to leave two of them at home who could have qualified themselves.”

As for a look into how his squad will fare in the individual and team playoffs, Slimm knows that in golf, “you can’t play defense,” so he wants to make sure his girls control the variables they have the power to control and take care of play on their end.

“There’s a ton of really strong teams across the WPIAL, from North Allegheny, Fox Chapel, Elizabeth Forward, South Fayette and Moon,” said Slimm. “You can’t worry about finishing in a particular place or shooting a particular score. It’s about giving your individual best and seeing what happens.”

A good example of that type of play and result came earlier in the season when the Rams played in the Jerry Roman Tournament hosted by Peters Township at Cedarbrook Golf Course.

The Rams played well that day but felt it wasn’t up to their potential. Somehow, they ended up in a first-place tie. The tiebreaker was decided by each team’s lowest fifth score, which went Pine-Richland’s way.

“We talked with that in mind saying that every shot matters,” said Slimm. “For us to stay present in the moment, heading into playoffs is going to be very important for us.”

Tags: Pine-Richland