Softball Season Ends With One Tough Inning

Yesterday, the girls fastpitch team showed that they have become a force in the league, but ultimately one hard-fought inning by Ardsley ended the girls' season in a 10-3 loss. 

"It's so annoying because we always seem to have one bad inning," sophomore pitcher Jamie Bucci said.

Sleepy Hollow (No. 10 seed) held the lead for five innings in the first round of the Class A sectionals tournament and were poised to upset No. 7 ranked Ardsley when things fell apart in the bottom of the sixth.

Sleepy was first on the scoreboard when Jamie Bucci stole two bases and tagged up on a sacrifice fly. In the fourth inning Jessica Bucci scored on an Ardsley throwing error to put them up 2-0 in the fourth.  The fourth inning was marred, however, by controversial call – a Sleepy Hollow runner was called out for running into an Ardsley infielder, setting off a protest by Coach Tony Milewski.

"It wasn't during a hit ball, she should have been awarded the base," Milewski said. "It should still be runners on second and third with no outs." 

Ardsley scored their first run in the bottom of the fourth inning. With runners on first and third catcher Jessica Bucci threw out a runner that attempted to steal second, allowing the runner on third to head home. The move paid off strategically as Hollow retired the next two batters without any more damage being done.

The girls struck back in the top of the fifth when Sandy Morales got on base off a ground ball bobbled by Ardsley's shortstop. She was hit in when Jamie Bucci knocked a shot into center field.

Ardsley, however, owned the sixth inning. The Panthers slowly loaded up the bases and scored nine runs with solid gap hitting. The Sleepy Hollow girls went three up, three down in top of the seventh to end the game.

Sleepy Hollow ended the year with a record of 13-8, which was far better than they were slated to do in the beginning.

"These kids are just great," Milewski said. "I'm so proud of how they did, especially for a team that wasn't projected to finish above .500."

Hollow loses a few seniors this year notably Jessica Bucci, Charlotte Frank and Kathy Perez. Milewski lauded them for their leadership.

"The seniors have been great. We'll never have a captain as good as Jessica Bucci again," Milewski said.

Frank noted the end was bittersweet for the outgoing seniors. 

"It's really sad the season's over, I've been playing with a lot of these girls since I was five years old; we've grown up together." Frank said. "I'm happy it was a winning season, of course I wish it wasn't over." 

But the prospects for the fastpitch team next year are looking good – the team is currently dominated by sophomores. 

"We've never been this close to the seniors before, and it's going to be hard with out them," Jamie Bucci said. "But we'll go all the way next year."