Lady Rams reach semifinals

With a battery featuring eighth-grader Sarah Cornell in the pitching circle and freshman Selena Ruiz behind the plate, fourth-seeded Clarke made a spirited run to the Nassau Class A softball semifinals and had No. 1 Island Trees on the ropes for a while before suffering a season-ending 9-3 defeat on May 17 at Mitchel Athletic Complex.

The Lady Bulldogs took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning on a sun-aided, two-run single to right field and put the game out of reach with five runs in the sixth, highlighted by Nicole Pellegrino’s third and fourth RBIs of the day. They advanced to face Plainedge in the best-of-three championship series.

“We had hopes of getting to the finals and made a good run,” Clarke coach Chrissy DeMott said. “We came into the playoffs in good shape and fed off of Sarah in the first two [playoff] games to get here. It’s tough to lose because we have eight seniors, but they played hard all season long.”

The Lady Rams (11-7) were the only Conference ABC-I rival to beat Island Trees during the regular season and got off to a flying start in the playoff matchup when Demi Shanahan reached on an error and scored in the top of the first for a 1-0 lead. Cornell, who totaled 27 strikeouts in playoff wins over Mineola and New Hyde Park, struck out the side in the first and whiffed the last two batters of the second with bases loaded.

The All-Conference pitcher had a 3-0 cushion after Clarke struck for two runs in the third. Alyssa Colletti singled with one out, and an error with two outs allowed Danielle Ragusa to reach. Clean-up batter Danielle Ferrara then smacked a two-run triple off winning pitcher Alannah Basile, who settled down thereafter and yielded just one hit over the last four innings.

Island Trees chipped away at the deficit in the bottom of the third with two runs, then took the lead for good in the fourth on a soft single to right by Pellegrino that fell between three defenders. “The momentum changed when that ball dropped,” said DeMott, “and we couldn’t get it back.”

It stayed 4-3 until the sixth when the first five Lady Bulldogs reached and eventually scored.

In the quarterfinals, Clarke held on for a 3-2 win over New Hyde Park as Cornell allowed only three hits and struck out 12. Colletti scored the winning run in the fifth on a single by Aly Smith. Ferrara drove in the other two runs.

In the first round, Cornell struck out 15 Mineola batters, Smith had three RBIs, and All-County selections Colletti and Ferrara homered to lead an 8-1 victory.