McCarthy Leads Pearl River Softball Past Nyack

Pearl River junior Mandy McCarthy wasn’t happy with her first three at-bats in Wednesday’s home game against Nyack, so for her fourth she decided to make a change.

“I was hitting these choppy grounders, so I decided that no matter where it was I was going to take at least the first pitch next time up,” she said. “I guess it worked.”

Worked might be a bit modest, as on the second pitch of her fourth at-bat, McCarthy belted a grand slam that easily cleared the wall in left center.

She finished the game with five RBIs as Pearl River beat Nyack, 8-0. McCarthy also pitched for Pearl River, going the full seven innings while striking out seven, giving up three hit and walking one.

“I felt pretty good in warmups, so I thought I’d have a good game,” she said. “Really, it was the defense that was key, though. When they made contact I knew the defense would get to it.”

Perhaps no Pearl River defensive play was bigger than the final out of the third inning. With the game still scoreless, Nyack’s Arielle Rodriguez was on second with two outs when Megan Sneeden connected on an 0-2 pitch and drove it deep to center. Pearl River center fielder Jules Madigan raced back and hauled in the ball right in front of the wall while still running to her left.

“When [Sneeden] hit it, I thought it was out,” McCarthy said. “I thought that if the fence keeps it in, Jules would get to it. I had total confidence she could get there. It was just whether or not the fence would stop her first.”

Pearl River Head Coach Carisa Galyardo said Madigan’s catch was one of the bigger plays in the game, as it allowed the Pirates to keep it tied

“After that, we really opened it up an inning later on a big hit by Julie Marsico,” Galyardo said.

In the bottom of the fourth, Pearl River’s Deirdre O’Malley dunked a hit into right field and the ball bounced by the Nyack right fielder, allowing O’Malley to get to second. After a strikeout, Marsico ripped a ball over the center fielder’s head for an RBI triple to get Pearl River on the board. Marsico didn’t score thanks to a nice play by Nyack shortstop Tiffany Salcito, who fielded a grounder and threw home in time for Sneeden, the catcher, to apply the tag to save a run.

However, the Nyack defense didn’t do much to help pitcher MacKenzie Johnson the rest of the game. In the fifth, Pearl River’s Sam Alicandri led off with a single and got to second after the ball bounced by the center fielder. Erin Woods knocked in Alicandri with a single, and she got to second thanks to an error by the right fielder. McCarthy singled in Woods and came around to score on an RBI single from Marsico.

Nyack Head Coach Stephanie Ryan said the sloppy defensive play isn’t an accurate display of how the Indians (7-3) have played so far this year.

“I think part of it was the intimidation factor,” she said. “Pearl River has a strong program. But I think this can help us build up the mental part of the game. We can’t just fall behind 1-0 and then let the flood gates open like they did. We have a young team, so we need to learn how to bounce back a bit more.”

Nyack’s youth was fully on display in the battery alone, as Johnson is in eighth grade and Sneeden is a freshman. Johnson started off strong for Nyack matching McCarthy for the first three innings.

“I thought she did well,” Ryan said. “She was hitting her spots and she fielder her position well.”

Pearl River improved to 5-2-1 with the victory. 

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