East Rockaway defeats Lynbrook

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Throwing for the fourth time in six days had no negative effect on East Rockaway’s Emily Chelius as the junior hurler shutdown visiting Lynbrook last Saturday afternoon with a one-hit, 18-strikeout performance to lead a 4-1 victory in a Nassau Conference III/IV softball crossover game.

The lone hit against Chelius, who allowed merely two runs and eight hits in 24 innings of work last week, was swinging bunt off the bat of sophomore Natalia Salazar with one out in the top of the fifth when the Lady Owls (4-3) pushed across their lone run. It was unearned. The win was the fifth in a row for the Lady Rocks, who improved to 6-1 in conference play.

“She was throwing darts and painting corners,” Lynbrook coach Peter Toscano said of Chelius. “She’s by far the best pitcher we’ve faced this year. If we get to the playoffs, it’s the level of pitching we can expect to see.”

The lights-out performance by Chelius overshadowed another solid effort in the circle by Lynbrook senior Julianne Graepel, who scattered four hits and walked four. Two walks issued in the bottom of the third turned into runs after junior Siobhan Perini (3-for-3) singled home freshman Emma Pollackov and sophomore Hunter Vertuccio to give two-time defending Long Island Class C champion East Rockaway all the offense it would need. The hosts added insurance runs in the fourth and fifth.

“We’re playing pretty well,” Lady Rocks coach Joe Lores said. “No complaints.”

The outcome capped a perfect week for Lores’ club, which squeezed out a 2-1 victory at Wantagh on April 9 thanks to Vertuccio’s two-out double in the seventh that brought home sophomore pinch-runner Katherine Melissinos. Junior Lia Gladstone, who leads the team in batting average, singled to start the inning. Chelius fanned 10 and then followed with back-to-back shutouts of Wheatley and Garden City while whiffing a combined 29.

“Emily’s added a nice change-up that’s helped her reach another level,” Lores said.

East Rockaway, South Side and Wantagh all have one loss in the race for the Conference ABC-III top spot.

Lynbrook opened the campaign with a four-game win streak, averaging 8.5 runs in the process. Toscano said its wild 7-6 walk-off victory over Oyster Bay on April 9 was the most exciting game he’s ever been a part of. Each team scored three runs in the seventh. After scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth for a 4-3 lead, the Lady Owls trailed by two when they stepped to the dish an inning later. Then, in a matter of five pitches, it was celebration time. Salazar doubled, Graepel tied it with a two-run homer, and hot-hitting senior Lindsay Ostroff won it with an opposite-field homer over the fence in right.

Lynbrook is part of a logjam in ABC-IV, with five of six teams separated by two wins. “Our defense has improved a lot since last year,” Toscano said.