Sports
NCLL 11-12 Softball Advances In NYS Tournament With 5-0 Win
Backed by strong pitching and defense, New City won its first game of the state tournament.
Sara Herskowitz belted a triple to right field and scored on a wild pitch on batter later to give the New City Little League 11-12 girls softball team a 1-0 lead in the first inning, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in their 5-0 win Thursday night against Islip.
The game was the first in the New York State tournament for Islip and New City, which has already won the District 18 and Section 4 titles this summer. Reese Guevarra pitched all six innings Thursday, giving up just one hit while striking out seven and walking one. Only three balls were hit out of the infield.
“We can be relaxed and calm out in the field when Reese pitches,” New City’s Melanie Lerche said. “We know they’re not going to hit anything by us.”
It was just the latest in a string of strong performance by Guevarra, who is now 8-0 this summer. She had hitters off balance much of the game thanks to striking out a few batters early in the game with a changeup.
“I think I did pretty well tonight,” Guevarra said, although a teammate of hers didn’t agree.
“Oh you did amazing, shut up,” Gabby Palumbo chimed in with, “We just had to not mistakes in the field, because they weren’t really hitting her.”
And New City didn’t make any mistakes in the field, playing a clean game behind Guevarra. When an Islip hitter singled to right field with two outs in the fourth inning, the first baserunner allowed by Guevarra, the runner tried to steal second but was gunned down by Herskowitz.
“We made every play we needed to,” Lerche said.
The combination of perfect defense and solid pitching is one New City needs to replicate if the team hopes to continue winning, said New City Manager Andy Kaye.
“We talk to the girls all the time about the importance of pitching and defense,” Kaye said. “They know exactly what they’re doing in the field, where they're going if the ball is hit to them, it’s practically instinctive at this point.”
While New City played clean defense, it took advantage of some mistakes made by Islip in the field. With the score 1-0 New City in the bottom of the third, Deana Prochnau was on second with one out when Plumbo ripped a single to right field. Prochnau advanced to third and rounded the base for a home, but Islip’s right fielder rocketed a perfect throw to the catcher while Prochnau was only halfway between third and home.
Prochnau slipped while turning to race back to third, but stood up quickly and resumed her backtracking. The catcher threw it to third, and the third baseman ran at Prochnau, who then turned back and headed home, which no Islip player had covered, so she scored easily.
New City went up 3-0 when Palumbo scored after Herskowitz crushed a pitch to deep right-center for her second triple of the game. Next, Lerche grounded to second and the Islip first baseman dropped the throw from second, not only allowing Lerche to reach base, but Herskowitz came in to score as well, making it 4-0. Lerche then stole second and third on consecutive pitches, and scored on a wild pitch, where she took off almost the instant the ball hit the catcher’s mitt and rolled to the backstop.
“I was just on my toes, ready for anything that got by the catcher,” Leche said.
New City will play next Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. at the South Orangetown Little League field in Orangeburg, where the entire tournament is being held. New City plays the winner of Thursday’s late game between Camden and New Hyde Park.
