Merrick 12-Year-Old Softball Wins LI Championship

Merrick's 12-year-old Williamsport softball team rode a six-run inning to the Long Island championship Tuesday evening, defeating North Shore 6-1.

The 12 girls with Merrick stitched on their jerseys had come a long way.

From playing little league ball in their hometown, the girls on the Merrick Madness team found themselves playing in the Long Island title game in Ostego Park in Dix Hills Tuesday, vying for the right to play in the state finals in Syracuse.

Trailing 1-0 to North Shore in the fifth inning, the girls knew it was time to either collect some hits, or go home.

Knowing that they had come too far to not reach their goal, Merrick put up a huge six-run inning in which nearly every single player contributed.

Led by coaches Maria Imhof, Cliff Rasulo, Rob Mascia and Rachel Barry, the Merrick girls are now able to call themselves the Long Island champions.

"I want to congratulate North Shore for playing a great game," Imhof said. "I'm so proud of all 12 of my girls. They went into this game so confident. Nicole [Imhof] and Sidney [Yormack] did a great job pitching and let up only one run. I'm so proud of all of them and I can't wait for the states."

Imhof and Yormack pitched three innings apiece, allowing just one combined run as they neutralized North Shore batters all game long.

"North Shore fought us really hard," Rasulo said. "It was close until the fifth inning but then our bats came alive. We had good pitching and got some big hits. It was a great win."

Cassandra Wilson started the game for North Shore, and she held the Merrick offense scoreless through the first four innings.

Merrick posed their first threat in the first inning. After a single by Meredith Jones, a walk to Missy Mavrogian and a single by Joanna Marmo, they had bases loaded with one out. However, Wilson then struck out both Kelly Rasulo and Yormack to to keep Merrick off the board.

Nicole Imhof, who pitched the first three innings for Merrick, stymied North Shore hitters and even made a great catch on a line drive comebacker in the third inning.

The catch set the tone defensively for Merrick, as they made several highlight reel catches all game long, including an impressive lunging catch by Carly Steffen at second base in the fourth inning to rob a North Shore batter of a hit.

However, it was North Shore that made the first dent in the scoreboard. After Samantha Floyd led off the fifth inning with a double, she advanced to third on a wild pitch.

The next batter, Danielle Powers, reached base on a fielder's choice, which then allowed North Shore to effectively execute a double steal that saw Floyd steal home on the throw to second base to make it 1-0.

Heading into the bottom of the fifth, Merrick knew it was do or die time.

Jones led off the inning with a double, one of her three hits on the day. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, she would be driven in on an RBI single by Mavrogian to tie the game at one.

"It felt really good to get those hits," Jones said. "And it feels really amazing to win because it's my third time."

They weren't done there. Marmo reached base on an infield single, and Kacie Badolato broke the tie with an RBI single. The hits kept coming as Imhof drove an RBI single to make it 3-1, and Yormack broke the game open with a two-RBI double to right field to make it 5-1.

Cora Travaglione then reached base on a bunt single and advanced to second on a stolen base. After a groundout by Jessica Mascia advanced her to third, Sammy Klein followed with a walk. Klein then attempted to steal second, which brought upon an errant pickoff throw by North Shore, allowing Travaglione to score the sixth and final run.

Yarmack came out to pitch the sixth needing just three outs to secure the championship. After a leadoff single, the next batter hit a pop fly to shallow left that was caught on a sensational diving catch by Mavrogian at shortstop.

"I'm so happy that we won," Mavrogian said. "And that catch really hurt."

Yormack then got the next two batters out, and the celebration began. All 12 girls, from Badolato to Jordan Walley, tossed their gloves and hats in the air and swarmed the pitcher's mound.

"It felt really good to win," Yormack said. "Now we're going to Syracuse and we're all really happy. It felt good that we were all having a really nice rally and everybody was hitting bombs."

It was a valiant effort by North Shore, who came so close to victory, but ultimately fell victim to one big inning by Merrick.

"It's one of the best groups of girls that we've ever seen," North Shore coaches Paul Pellarin and Franco Gallo said of their team.  "Just the kindest and nicest group of girls."

The day finally came to an end with the Merrick team holding up the championship banner and beginning the process of making travel plans to Syracuse, where they will compete for the state championship.

However, Marmo had one more thing left to say before the team left the field, words of encouragement that have become the team's new motto throughout the tournament as they continue to send a strong message to whomever they play:

"We go hard, we play like a boss and we don't go home."

Well said.

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