Taylor Powers Softball Past East Hampton in Playoff Opener

Lindsay Taylor's two run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning broke a scoreless tie, awakening the Kings Park bats en route to a 7-0 victory over East Hampton in the quarterfinals of the Suffolk County Class A playoffs Thursday afternoon.

"She’s two-dimensional all the way around," said Kings Park (19-2) head coach Kim McGinley. "She’s one of our top batters. She leads us in RBI. She can bring it in the circle and she can bring it in the box."

After being kept quiet for three innings, Taylor put a charge into a 3-2 pitch from East Hampton (13-8) starter Casey Waleko that easily cleared the fence in left field. The homer, her seventh of the season, was one of five hits in a four-run fourth inning that gave Taylor more than enough insurance on the mound.

"In my first at bat, I drilled it right to the shortstop," said Taylor. "So I was looking for a first pitch strike. I was just ready to hit. On that 3-2 count, I was just looking for her to throw me a strike and I was ready for it."

Taylor pitched a complete game shutout, allowing only a second inning single to Woleko, while striking out 13 in her latest dominant performance.

Though she was dominant early, Taylor needed some help from her battery mate, Ariana Ambrosio, to keep the game scoreless in the second inning.

"That was very important," Taylor said of the play. "It impacted the game. If they would’ve scored it would’ve changed the tone of the game. It would’ve made everyone nervous like we’d have to do too much."

With two outs and Woleko on third, Taylor threw in the dirt and past Ambrosio. The Lady Kingsmen's catcher raced to the backstop and quickly flipped to Taylor, who was covering home plate, in time to tag Woleko for the final out of the inning.

"Lindsay’s a very focused young lady," said McGinley. "She started a little slow, but she zeroes in. After she had that [play at the plate] and she knew the defense was there, she settled in and started hitting her spots. Her pitches had a little more juice on them. She did her job. She’s an amazing young lady. You can’t ask for much more."

Kings Park, who was unable to solve Woleko on the mound to that point, breathed a collective sigh of relief as they jogged off the field.

"I was very tense before the game," said Taylor. "I always get nervous when playoffs come around and I try to do too much. But after that inning, it was very relaxing."

Paige Julich blew the game open with a three run home run in the bottom of the fifth, extending the lead to 7-0.