Marte, Zupa Lead Glen Cove Softball to Opening Win

Not much went wrong for the Glen Cove High School varsity softball team in its 7-2 win against rival North Shore Thursday afternoon.

Kim Marte took to the circle to start the 2010 campaign for the Big Red and turned in a stellar performance of eight strikeouts and just six hits in a complete game win.

The North Shore Vikings had just one inning where they threatened Glen Cove's lead. In the sixth, looking fatigued, Marte hit a batter and allowed a pair of hits as North Shore plated one of their two runs.

Marte calmed down and got out of the inning without any more damage.

"I wasn't concerned, the team was backing her up," coach Valerie Amilicia said after the game.

"She pulled it together and got herself out of trouble."

Hearts dropped across the field momentarily as a hard ground ball drilled Marte in the right ankle, sending her to the dirt. After a few hushed moments, Marte got up and tried to skip off the pain. She stuck with it and even laughed off the injury.

"She's tough," Amilicia said. "She got right back out there."

Amilicia, who notched her first career win as head coach, let her team loose on the base paths that helped the Big Red march out to an early lead.

Glen Cove (0-1) took advantage of several passed balls, and swiped a pair of bases.

"The key was just running in spots when we could," Amilicia said.

First baseman Carina Zupa started her second season on varsity on the right foot, as she drilled a two-run homer to left field that scored Melissa  Shearer. Zupa's home run put the Big Red up 4-0 in the third inning.

Zupa finished 1-for-2 with a walk. Shearer also contributed an RBI single in the fourth inning to plate Marte, the Big Red's final run of the game.

Second baseman Briana Leon provided the first RBI for Glen Cove in the 2010 season. On a ground ball to shortstop hit by Leon, Hailey Langone slid under an attempt to tag her out at home plate.

Leon would notch her second RBI of the day on a single to center, which again brought Langone in to score. Leon also scored both times she was on base.

Glen Cove's smart base running allowed the Big Red to score seven runs on just six hits. Glen Cove didn't put a runner on in their last two times at the plate.

Glen Cove left just three runners on base, a tribute to their efficient offense.

"We put in a lot of hit-and-runs, and didn't swing at bad pitches," Amilicia said. "We took advantage of any errors."