Lady Kingsmen One Win Away From Championship

Despite taking a few innings to get its timing down, Kings Park’s offense finally clicked as the Lady Kingsmen, tied 1-1 with Sayville, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 3-1 lead and added two more runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

Led by  senior starting pitcher Lindsay Taylor and playing in front of a large crowd at Kings Park High School, the team cruised to a 6-2 win over Sayville in the first game of the best-of-three games series for the Suffolk Class A championship and are now only one win away from winning the title for the second straight year.

Score: Kings Park 6, Sayville 2

Record: Kings Park 21-2, Sayville 16-7

Heroes: Senior starting pitcher Lindsay Taylor looked a little hittable in the early innings as Sayville pasted a walk, a stolen base and a two-out single together to tie the game 1-1 only to see one of Suffolk’s top hurlers go into shutdown mode from that point on.

Taylor (three hits, two walks allowed) struck out 10 and limited Sayville’s potent offense to two hits over the next four innings. She was also a terror at the plate  going 2-for-4, with a long RBI single in the bottom of the third inning and an RBI double in the fifth.

Senior Jessica LoBianco had three hits in three plate appearances, stole two bases and scored three runs.

Senior shortstop Nicole Brieva had a hit, a walk, two stolen bases and an RBI. Junior first baseman Reina Torlincasi had an RBI hit and was superb defensively.

Turning Point: Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning, Jessica LoBianco singled to centerfield with one out and advanced to second base following Brieva’s walk. Taylor stepped to the plate and sent a pitch delivered by Sayville starter Merissa Selts deep to centerfield, which may have cleared the fence if not for the leaping attempt by the Bandits centerfielder. LoBianco scored on the play, with the ball glancing off the top of the fielder’s glove although Brieva could only advance to second, holding Taylor to a long RBI single.

The Lady Kingsmen’s third run of the game was scored moments later after a failed pickoff attempt sailed into the stands, allowing Brieva to jog home from third.

Quotes: “This was a major win today,” said Kings Park’s head coach Kim McGinley. “The first one was here, we go over there [Sayville] tomorrow and if we have to, we’ll come back home, but hopefully we can take care of business tomorrow and be done. We started off a little nervous, but we got the butterflies out after the second inning and Lindsay did an excellent job for us.”

Key Stat: Taylor appeared to get stronger as the game wore on, striking out eight batters over the final four innings. Her two RBI hits were clutch, purpose-intended lasers and even the foul balls she hit during Wednesday’s game sent fans scattering. Every swing she took seemed to count and her terrific day at the plate helped her cause in the pitcher’s circle.

Bottom Line: The Lady Kingsmen can clinch its second straight Class A championship with a win on Thursday at Sayville. If needed, a third game would be played back at Kings Park on Saturday.