Hewlett evens conference mark

After last Friday’s 16-3 victory that brought Hewlett’s record against Conference ABC-IV softball rivals to .500 after a sluggish start, senior pitcher Ricki Sperry might consider changing her uniform from No. 4 to 5. 

Sperry helped her own cause in a big way, going 5-for-5 with five runs scored and five RBIs, including a grand slam that ended the game in mercy rule fashion in the bottom of the fifth inning. Eighth-grader Emma Blumenstein cracked a three-run homer in the fourth, and seventh-grade leadoff batter Valerie Liao-Greene scored three times. Hewlett improved to 5-5.

“We’ve been playing well lately,” Lady Bulldogs coach Vinnie Lospinuso said. “Early in the year we were trying to find ourselves. Now we’ve won four of the last five and scoring a lot of runs. Ricki is doing a great job pitching; I think she’s thrown every inning but one.”

Sperry allowed single runs in the first, third and fifth innings, with only a homer by Sewanhaka’s Beaty Couloute being earned. She struck out six. “She’s doing such a nice job working around the zone,” Lospinuso said. 

The Lady Bulldogs scored at least two runs in every inning, including four in the first when they batted around. Liao-Greene doubled to lead off, Blumenstein singled, Sperry reached on an error, and sophomore Harper Manus singled and scored. Manus, sophomore Lauren Dori, junior Hannah Prusack, and junior Lindsay Rosen all drove in runs.

Dori, who Lospinuso said is doing an outstanding job behind the plate as Sperry’s receiver, went 3-for-4 and also knocked in runs in the second and third innings. Hewlett broke the game open in the fourth. Already with a run in for a 9-2 lead, senior Carly Fisher was on third and Liao-Greene on first when Blumenstein found a gap in the outfield for a line-drive three-run homer. The next inning, right before Sperry ended it, Blumenstein belted a line drive that was caught in center field. “A few feet in either direction and that’s probably a grand slam,” Lospinuso said.

Blumenstein, who plays left field, has 12 RBIs during the team’s three-game winning streak, the coach noted. The previous day she homered and knocked in five runs to lead a 17-5 victory over Roslyn. Liao-Greene, who plays second base, scored three runs.

“We couldn’t ask for more from Valerie and Emma at the top of the lineup,” Lospinuso said. “You don’t see a seventh-grader and an eighth-grader starting on varsity and batting 1-2 every day. They’re playing with confidence and fit right into the team chemistry.”

With four games remaining, including a pair versus West Hempstead, the Lady Bulldogs (7-5 overall) sit in fourth place in the eight-team conference. Lynbrook, with only one loss, is in the driver’s seat for the title with only Locust Valley within striking distance.

If there’s one game Lospinuso could have back, he said Hewlett’s 9-7 loss to Locust Valley in early April is it. “We had a 6-0 lead,” he said.

“We came into the season shooting for .500 and we have a chance to win 10 games,” Lospinuso said.