Cougars Softball Snatches First Place From Comets

The Lady Cougars softball team went into yesterday afternoon's game against first place Hicksville knowing that coming away with the win would put them ahead of the Comets in the Conference III standings, and let them control their own destiny in making the playoffs.

And the Cougars responded.  Big time.

An eight-run fifth inning proved to be plenty as Kennedy leapfrogged Hicksville in the standings with an 8-1 victory at Hicksville High School.  

Kennedy (12-2) is ensured a spot in the postseason as long as the team wins its two remaining conference games.

"We're really playing as a team and I think that's going to take us to the playoffs," Kennedy coach Katie Speiss said.

The Cougars were put in a position to win the game by the arm of their starting pitcher, Gabbi Calia. She had a no-hitter through four, but gave up a single in the bottom half of the fifth inning.

"I knew I had to come here to win, so I just kept my head in the game and did what I had to do," Calia said.

Speiss was most impressed by the mental fortitude that her starting pitcher displayed in the win.

"This was a very important game and for her to keep her composure from all of the noise and to zone everything out, whether she liked the calls or not, she stayed focused and she pitched a great game," Speiss said.

The fifth inning proved to be the deciding one in the game. In the top half of the inning the Cougars pushed eight runs across home plate, putting the Comets in a hole they were unable to climb out of.

"We couldn't find an out,"  Hicksville head coach Rich Hinnerschietz said. "They were dropping balls in, they hit a couple of balls hard, we walked a couple of kids and they had a big inning. Good teams have big innings."

Calia helped out with her bat, as well, in that fifth inning. With one out and runners on second and third, she ripped a double and drove in the first two runs of the game.  After that, three more walks, three more singles, and a sacrifice fly gave Kennedy the eight runs they needed to come away with the win.

In every inning prior to that, the Cougars were getting runners in scoring position, but were not able to come up with the clutch hits.

"The past couple of games I feel like we've been struggling a little bit in terms of scoring those runs early," Speiss said. "So the first couple of innings are usually a little rough, and then as soon as they see the pitcher a time or two they start crushing it and that's just what we need them to keep doing."

Just 10 days earlier, Hicksville crushed Kennedy, 15-4, but after yesterday's win, memories of that loss were long gone.

When asked how it felt to be in control of their own destiny, Calia answered in just one word: "Perfect."

Hicksville fell to 12-3 in conference play, with two of those losses coming at the hands of the Cougars.

Kennedy will begin the task of securing that playoff spot today at 4:30 p.m. when they host Uniondale High School.