Clarke seeks return to form

The overall numbers pointed to yet another strong start for Clarke eighth-grader Sarah Cornell in the circle last Saturday. She struck out 10 Plainedge batters, allowed just three hits and thanks to some strong defense behind her managed to tap dance out of trouble numerous times despite issuing eight walks. The Lady Red Devils, however, took advantage of two pitches on the meat of the plate and made the home runs stand up in a 3-1 victory over the Lady Rams.

The loss was the third in a row for Clarke after a 6-0 start to the season that included three straight Conference ABC-I wins. “We’re definitely leaving too many runners in scoring position and not coming up with the timely hit,” coach Krissy DeMott said of her team, which managed just two hits and two walks against Kim Nowak. “We took a little too long to wake up,” she added. “In the beginning we were not swinging at good pitches and letting the good ones go by.”

Trailing 3-0 in the top of the sixth, sophomore Charissa Perfect worked a full-count walk to snap a string of nine straight batters retired by Nowak. Perfect advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Selena Ruiz and scored on a two-out double by senior Aly Smith. Forced to be aggressive after managing just two baserunners to that point, Smith tried to turn the two-bagger into a triple and was thrown out at third to end the inning. “It takes a perfect throw from the outfielder [and cutoff] and they did that,” DeMott said of forcing the defense to make the play.

Cornell struck out the side in the first inning, but the Lady Red Devils still managed to inflict some quick damage. Following a one-out walk, No. 3 hitter Dolores Diemicke crushed a two-run homer to left. Taylor Curran led off the bottom of the fourth with the second home run, and things could have gotten worse if not for the play of the defense behind Cornell. Despite striking out the next two batters, a two-out walk gave Plainedge runners at first and second. 

Sophomore catcher Angelica Gargiulo, however, corralled a wild pitch and fired to senior McHaela Rotundo, who tagged the runner trying to advance from second to end the inning. Senior shortstop Alyssa Colletti made a lunging grab of a liner to end the fifth inning, while Gargiulo and senior first baseman Danielle Ferrara teamed up on a putout at first after a bunt was dropped in front of the plate. “We have a very veteran defense behind Sarah,” DeMott said. “We have six seniors in the field and [the experience] definitely shows.”

Clarke returns home for three straight games beginning with Friday’s conference battle against Seaford. The first pitch is scheduled for 4:45 p.m., and the Lady Rams will be looking to sweep the series after Cornell led them to a 4-3 win the first time around, striking out 14 and allowing just two hits.