State crown for East Meadow

In any sport at any level, traits of a championship-caliber team include not just talent and chemistry, but also the ability to post an occasional blowout as well as win pressure-filled close games.

East Meadow softball met all of those criteria — and more — in 2017.

The Lady Jets captured their second New York State Class AA title last Saturday afternoon, topping defending champion Binghamton, 1-0, in the championship game in South Glens Falls after an explosive 17-10 semifinal win over Victor in the morning.

“The girls really bonded this year and I couldn’t be more proud of how hard and how well they played,” East Meadow coach Stew Fritz said. “It was such an enjoyable ride, but also very intense. So many games came down to the last pitch in the last two weeks.”

Five of East Meadow’s last six games were in doubt with one out to go, including the state title game. Senior Gianna Azzato’s RBI single in the bottom of the first held up, thanks in large part to the arm of junior Christina Loeffler and a defensive gem in the top of the fifth.

“We knew from what we heard about their pitcher [Paige Rauch], it was going to be a completely different game than the semifinal,” Fritz said. “She easily threw harder than anyone we faced and it was big to get an early run. Of course, we didn’t know at the time it was going to be the game’s only run.”

Just like she did against Long Beach in the Nassau County championship series and versus East Islip in the Long Island title game, Loeffler made key pitches in key spots. Binghamton loaded the bases in the first and third innings with two outs and each time Loeffler ended the threat with a strikeout.

“It was tooth-and-nail every single pitch,” Fritz said. “Christina never lost her composure and threw some incredible pitches under pressure.”

The Lady Patriots threatened again in the fifth and had runners on first and second with one out when East Meadow junior Sam Reyes fielded Sabrina Anderson’s single to right and came up firing to home. Reyes’ perfect strike to junior catcher Sarah Polansky beat the runner by 15 feet and she attempted to backtrack to third base. Polansky threw to sophomore Amy Mallah, who tagged Martina Hanyon for the second out. As the trail runner headed to an unoccupied third base, Lady Jets’ sophomore Julianna Sanzone raced in from leftfield and applied an inning-ending tag after taking a throw from Mallah.

“From that moment, I think we all felt we had it,” said Sanzone, who in the semifinal win over Victor had two doubles, a homer and 6 RBIs to go with Reyes’ and junior Emily Shurina’s two RBIs. Shurina also homered to cap a six-run sixth inning after East Meadow’s 11-2 lead was cut to two.

Loeffler retired Binghamton in order in the sixth and seventh innings. Her final delivery produced a championship-clinching flyout to senior Jess Marsala in center, which sent the Lady Jets into a dogpile celebration near second base.

“I knew as soon as the ball came off the bat it was going to end up in Jess’ glove,” Loeffler said. “Sarah [Polansky] and I were screaming even before Jess caught it. Once she did, we all went down to the ground in a pile and every emotion came out. It was amazing.”