New City Softball Moves Up to All Star District Championship Finals

The New City Little League softball All Stars won their third game in a row Monday night in Nanuet.

The two teams battled back and forth, however, New City was able to take a commanding 16-9 lead by the bottom of the fifth, which allowed them to hang on to defeat Nanuet, 16-13.  New City out hit Nanuet in a spectacular offensive performance from both sides to win the district All Star tournament winners' bracket final.

They will now go on to play the winner of the losers' bracket on Sunday in the championship game. If they win Sunday, New City moves on to sectionals.  If not, there will be a game two, however, any team would be hard-pressed to beat this exceptionally talented team.

Both pitchers had solid performances Monday, however, the bats on both sides lit up to turn the game into a high-scoring offensive battle.  Nanuet pulled ahead 3-0 in the top of the first, but New City retaliated in the bottom of the first with RBIs from Herskowitz and Borelli.  New City kept Nanuet from scoring in the top of the second to keep the score at 3-2 going into the bottom of the inning.

Keaveney, Borelli, Lerche, and Herskowitz dominated in the second, with back-to-back-to-back-to-back RBIs.  Keaveney evened the score at 3-3 with an RBI single.  Borelli followed this up with her second RBI of the game to put them in the lead, though she was out on the play.  Lerche built on this with an RBI single to make the score 5-3.  Then Herskowitz hit it hard to make the third baseman bobble the ball, thus handing Herskowitz her second RBI of the game.  Ritsick then stole home on a wild pitch to bring in the fifth and final run of the inning.

Nanuet fought back, scoring two in the top of the third and then retiring the side in order to close the bottom of the inning.  They were then able to tie up the game in the top of the fourth when New City picked up an error on an overthrow trying to catch the runner at home.  Nanuet then took the lead with an RBI single before Keaveney struck them out on the next at bat to close the inning.

Keaveney hit a single and Ritsick advanced her to a scoring position, though she was thrown out at first.  Lerche followed this with a single to put runners on the corners.  Herskowitz then hit a deep single to left, bringing home Keaveney.  Borelli then was walked to load the bases.  Amatuzzo then connected and brought home two on a play filled with errors.  Demkiw then hit a sacrifice RBI to bring home Borelli and advance Amatuzzo to third.  Brauer followed this with an RBI double to left field.  Semel brought her home on a double for a sliding finish at the plate.  Keaveney then grounded out to end the inning.

Nanuet put up one in the top of the fifth to make the score 13-9 going into the bottom of the inning.  Ritsick, Lerche, and Herskowitz loaded the bases to start the bottom of the fifth.  Ritsick then caught Nanuet sleeping and slid in to steal home during Borelli's at bat.  Borelli then connected to bring home Lerche, however she was thrown out at first.  Amatuzzo was up next and did the same to bring home Herskowitz for the final run of the inning.

With the score now 16-9, New City just needed to maintain their commanding lead.  Nanuet never gave up though and scored four more before Amatuzzo fielded a grounder and got the final out at first.  This closed the game with a 16-13 New City victory.

Both teams played excellently, however, both teams' defenses had some difficulty with errors.  Offensively, they each had spectacular games, but New City was able to out hit Nanuet to move onto the championships.  They were led on offense by Danielle Borelli with three RBIs, Sara Herskowitz with two RBIs, and Carly Amatuzzo, who hit one RBI and stole home twice to give her team three much needed extra runs.

Coach Frank Borelli was very pleased with his team's performance and composure throughout the game. 

"I'm really proud of the way the girls hung in there under a lot of pressure," said Borelli, "they did everything we asked them to do and it paid off."

Coming off this spectacular win and with the momentum they have built up from three wins in a row, New City is going to be tough to beat.  They play again Sunday at 7 p.m. in game one of the district championships.