Clarkstown South Softball Avenges Monday's Loss to North With 4-3 Victory at Home

Clarkstown South High School softball avenged Monday’s loss to Clarkstown North Thursday afternoon at home with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory.

“It’s big not just because it’s a comeback win, but because it’s a North/South win,” said the Vikings head coach Maura Heebink.  “The rivalry has been here now for 37 years, so it’s an even bigger win than it would be just coming back.  But, any win where you can come back and not put your head down and keep fighting, that’s important to do for a team.”

After falling behind early, South came up with a monstrous fourth inning to take a 3-2 lead.  After tacking on another in the sixth, South held on to hand their hometown rivals their first loss of the season.

“The girls played in unison with each other,” said Heebink.  “We’re finally starting to put it together and become more of a team than individuals.  I think that was the biggest difference than what we’ve done the past couple of games.”

Coming off the tough 2-1 loss to North Monday, South was energized and focused on getting the win.

“It was a tough loss, but they’re a good team, so we weren’t down about it, we just tried to fix any of the little problems that we had and I think we did,” said Heebink.  “We just had to tweak what we were doing a little bit and just be a little bit more intense than we had been and I think since we rolled with that it just came our way this time.”

Specifically for South, explained Heebink, the key was in selective hitting and confidence when facing a talented pitcher like Danielle Destaso, a goal which they seemed to have accomplished.  For South's Samantha McDonald, it was also about staying focused and confident despite being down early.

“We just kept our heads up,” said McDonald.  “We knew that North was a good team and everything and we just went out there and we were really pumped during the game and before the game, so we definitely kept our heads up even if something went wrong, and we just came back and won it.”

For North’s head coach Danielle Trainor, the loss came down to errors.

“We made way too many fundamental errors,” said Trainor.  “Groundballs, high pops, plays that should have been made were not made.  We didn’t execute today.”  She added, “The girls know that they have to come to play every game and make the fundamental plays.  When you have two good softball teams in high school, it’s gonna be who makes the least amount of errors and too bad for us today that we didn’t do it.”

The winning pitcher, South’s Brittany Montana, struck out six before being relieved by McDonald in the seventh after giving up a homerun to Destaso.  McDonald finished strong with three easy outs to clinch the win.

“I thought that I was confident out there and I knew we could do it, because I’m very confident in my team and I knew that they had my back, and, as long as I’m in the game, I know that they’ll be in the game and support me,” said Montana.

North’s Danielle Destaso struck out seven on the night after pitching the full game for her team. 

“We knew it was going to be a struggle,” said Trainor.  “They’re seeing Danielle, our pitcher, a lot of them, seven, eight, nine times within three days.  They’re going to start getting her number.  They’re going to start recognizing her pitches and putting the ball in play and we need to make the plays and that’s what we didn’t do today.”

After a quick and scoreless first inning, Lauren Navarro came up with a monster solo home run to put the Rams on the board.  The Rams then took a 2-0 lead in the third, after an RBI single by Ruby Silverstein.  The Vikings got out of the inning and neither team could score to leave South trailing 2-0 going into the bottom of the fourth.

With two on, two outs and a full count, McDonald came up with an RBI single to put the Vikings on the board.

“Danielle’s a very, very good pitcher and we actually play together on travel and we’re really close friends and everything, so I have to admit, I was a little nervous going in there, but I knew I just had to get focused and keep focused,” said McDonald.

Carly Feuer followed McDonalds RBI up with another RBI single to tie the game.  Kaitlyn Paxton then put the Vikings in the lead by one with a third RBI single.  Feuer nearly stole home on a passed ball, however she was tagged out sliding into  home in the nick of time.

The game remained at 3-2 until the bottom of the sixth, when Feuer doubled to bring home Alana Kurtti.  McDonald got caught in a rundown and was tagged out and Montana was thrown out at first to end the inning.

With the game on the line Destaso came up to bat to open the seventh.  With a full count, she bombed one over the leftfield fence for a solo homerun to put North within one.  With that, Montana was relieved by McDonald who, with the help of her infield, retired three in a row off three easy outs at first.

“We were pumped up,” said Montana.  “We wanted to beat them because we had that game it just slipped out of our hands unfortunately, but we were very excited and pumped up and we wanted it and I think that’s what helped us.”

North falls to 4-1 while South improves to 2-2 on the season.  The win is a big boost for South going into the rest of the season.

“It gives us a lot of confidence,” said McDonald, “because Monday we lost to them and we came back and won today, so we definitely see that we can beat everyone.”

South plays next at home this Saturday, Apr. 16 at 11 a.m. in a scrimmage against Mamaroneck.  North plays next at home today against East Ramapo at 4 p.m.