Lady Dawgs Swept in Softball Finals Heartbreaker

The Island Trees Lady Dawgs' quest for a Nassau County softball title came to an end Thursday afternoon, as the Lady Dawgs fell to the Plainedge Red Devils 2-1 in an extra-inning thriller and were swept 2-0 in Class A finals.

Island Trees (18-4) lost to the Red Devils (16-4) in game one just 24 hours earlier.

Two errors on the same play in the bottom of the second inning on Thursday gave the Red Devils an extra out and put runners in scoring position for Gianna Soriente, who gave Plainedge a 1-0 lead after singling.

Despite several innings of struggling at the plate, the Lady Dawgs finally got on the board when third baseman Tori Tedeshi drove in Nicole Pellegrino in the top of the sixth shortly after Pellegrino ripped a triple into the gap.

Tedeshi drove in both runs for Island Trees in the series, while Pellegrino finished 2-for-4 on the day.

The comeback fell short when Soriente struck again with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The designated hitter smoked a triple over the head of the center fielder and drove in the winning run for the Red Devils.

Island Trees struggled at the plate for the early portion of the game, with 10 pop outs in the first five innings. The Lady Dawgs weren't testing Plainedge pitcher Kim Nowak either, as Nowak threw nine pitches or less in all but one of the first five innings.

"They were so aggressive trying to get that hit, trying to get on base, trying to get in scoring position that they were just out in front of everything, dropping their back shoulder and hitting it off the end of the bat," Island Trees head coach Mike Bongiorno said. "... [Plainedge] just made every play that it needed to and, in the beginning, we didn't."

It appeared that Plainedge was going to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth when the team's first two batters reached base. However, Lady Dawgs right fielder Colleen Smith made an amazing diving catch and then managed to double up the runner at second base.

Smith made a similar diving catch the very next inning.

One play later, senior center fielder Meghan Acton made the highlight reel when she broke on a line drive that appeared to be dropping in front of her and fully extended to make an incredible catch and keep the game alive.

"Colleen Smith was unbelievable. She was not letting that ball go," Bongiorno said. "... And Meghan Acton, wow — that kept us going the next couple of innings, otherwise the game would have been over right there."

The conference-champion Lady Dawgs had just two losses coming into the finals against Plainedge. The team will graduate six seniors including Pelligrino, Smith, Acton, Samantha Basile, Christina McShane and Brittany Ciaramitaro.

"They're the true definition of what a team is — always picking each other up," Bongiorno said. "... They're just an incredible team. It was just one of those things that shouldn't end in an 0-2 loss in the county finals."

W: Nowak

L: Basile