NCLL 11-12 Softball Drops First Game of State Tournament

All it took was three batters and the New City Little League 11 and 12-year-old softball team found itself trailing Camden on Saturday.

Reese Guevarra was on the mound again for New City, and in an unusual move for New City’s ace, walked someone, putting the leadoff batter on first.

The next batter doubled to right field, and the third batter singled both runners in to give Camden a 2-0 lead, one which Camden would not relinquish en route to a 3-0 win Saturday afternoon in the New York State Majors Division softball championships tournament, held this year in Orangeburg. 

“We’re not really used to teams scoring in the first inning against us, and we just never caught up with them,” said New City’s catcher Sara Herskowitz. 

Up until Saturday, New City was undefeated this summer, running through the district and sectional tournaments. Coach Any Kaye said his team had trailed once so far this summer, 1-0 against Stony Point. 

In Saturday’s game, Guevarra settled down after the first three batters, coming back to strike out the next three. With two outs in the top of the second inning, Guevarra gave up three consecutive singles, increasing Camden’s lead to 3-0. After that, however, Guevarra was back in control, starting with a dominating performance in the third, when she got through the inning on just four pitches. After the second, Guevarra gave up just one hit, an infield single where second baseman Gabby Palumbo made a difficult diving stop on her knees, but the runner just beat out her throw to first. Guevarra pitched all six innings, giving up three runs and striking out nine.

“I just put it in my mind that I had to forget about the first inning,” Guevarra said.

Despite the loss, New City isn’t out of the state tournament, as it’s double-elimination. New City will play again Sunday at 11:30 a.m. in Orangeburg against the winner of Saturday’s afternoon game between Islip and New Hyde Park. New City beat Islip 5-0 in its first game of the tournament on Thursday night. To win the state title, New City will have to win its next three games.

“We just need to stay focused and not worry about anything except the game,” Herskowitz said. 

Herskowitz was a bright spot for a disappointing New City offense Saturday. The catcher singled in her first at-bat, stole second and ended up on third when a Camden player dropped the throw down on her steal attempt. Herskowitz later singled again in the game. Sarah Brauer was the only other New City player to get two hits, reaching base on a double and single. Deana Prochnau and Taylor Adolff also recorded hits to reach base for New City in the shutout.

The problem for New City, though, was those hits didn’t really come near one another.

“We couldn’t string together three or four hits in an inning to really get us going,” Kaye said.

But Kaye is confident his team can turn things around starting Sunday and win the tournament. Because Little League rules state that a pitcher can’t pitch two days in a row, New City won’t be able to use Guevarra, who was 8-0 on the mound heading into Saturday. Instead, Kaye said that Brauer will get the start for New City.

“She’s a very good pitcher,” he said. “We’re lucky. We have a number 1 and a 1A.”