NCLL Softball Falls to Pearl River, Faces South Orangetown Next

New City Little League's 10-11 softball All Stars fell to Pearl River in day two of a game begun Monday night and postponed until Tuesday night by rain.

Pearl River pulled ahead early Monday night with a 3-0 lead in the first.  New City got one back in the bottom of the inning and then the game remained scoreless till Tuesday.  New City tied it up, but then ran into some difficulties to allow Pearl River an 11-3 lead by the bottom of the sixth.  Though they rallied to score another three runs, they could not fully come back from the large deficit and ended the game trailing 11-6.

Despite a couple tough innings, #11 Madison Borenkoff pitched a solid game for her team.  She opened the game strong and recovered from her difficulty finding the zone in the fourth and fifth to keep Pearl River to only one run in the top of the sixth, thus affording her team a shot at coming back, which they very nearly took advantage of.  Offensively, New City displayed some excellent base running and #12 Jamie DelRosario led the lineup with two RBIs for the night.

Borenkoff opened the game with a walk and a strike.  Pearl River then came up with an inside the park home run to put them up 2-0.  Borenkoff then walked the next two, one of which Pearl River brought home off a shot to right field.  The other runner went for home, however New City made a great series of throws from right to the cutoff to third and then to the catcher, #33 Kerrin Powers, who tagged out the runner sliding into home.  Borenkoff then struck out the next to end the inning.

#9 Gabby Palumbo led off in the bottom of the first with a shot to right center field and was then advanced to second on a bunt from #13 Carli "Cocoa" Solicito.  After advancing to third on a ball to Borenkoff, she was then brought home on a sacrifice fly.  The inning ended with a strikeout to Powers.

The next inning went scoreless before the game was postponed on account of a  torrential downpour.  Play resumed the next day at 7 p.m. in the top of the third, with Borenkoff opening strong to keep the game at 3-1 going into the bottom of the inning.  Leading off was #50 Deana Prochnau, who took second on an error at first.  Palumbo then brought her home with a line drive to the pitcher, though she was thrown out at first.  After Solicito flew out, Borenkoff got on with a double off a ground ball through the shortstop.  Powers then brought her home with a single to tie the game.  Powers was left stranded when #21 Gianna Lia grounded out to second.

Borenkoff ran into her first difficulty of the game when she walked home three runs for a total of five walks in the top of the fourth.  With a lead of 6-3, Pearl River then shut down New City's lineup to retire the side in order.  With the momentum now in Pearl River's favor to begin the fifth, two more scored off wild pitches from Borenkoff and another two scored off a grounder which rolled deep into center field for a triple.

With a lead of 10-3, Pearl River kept New City from scoring in the bottom of the  inning with a double play to bring them up again in the top of the sixth.  They then tacked on another run off a shot to right field, which put Pearl River up 11-3.  With two on and no outs in the bottom of the sixth, Lia connected for a single to bring home Borenkoff. #2 Taylor Adolff was then safe at first off an error to load the bases.  This brought up DelRosario who hit a shot which fell in for a 2 RBI single.  Though the next two batters put the bat on the ball, Pearl River played solid defense to get the outs and end the game.

Pearl River played an excellent game to defeat New City 11-6 and move on in the winners' bracket.  Though Borenkoff threw a number of balls, they were right around the strike zone for the most part and Pearl River showed a lot of discipline in not swinging at them.  New City played a great game on both the offensive and defensive ends, despite being handed a tough loss.  Though the path will be a bit more difficult for them now, this talented team still has a shot at the District championships.

They will continue their quest for the title tonight, when they play at home against South Orangetown at 7:30 p.m. at Strawtown Field.