Carey ready to turn corner

The long, nasty winter relegated Carey to the gym for workouts a little more often than it would have liked, and, as a result, the Lady Seahawks are still getting things figured out. 

Carey dropped two of its first three games, including a 6-1 loss to defending Long Island Class A softball champion MacArthur, but seems to be on the cusp of finding its stride after back-to-back wins against Seaford and Division. The Lady Seahawks stand at 3-2 in Nassau Conference ABC-I.

Head coach Anthony Turco believes his team is turning the corner. “We’re not as consistent as we’d like to be, but the hitting is starting to come around,” Turco said. “In terms of who’s coming through for us, it varies from day to day. One of the real nice things is that the girls have bought into the team-first concept. They’re enthusiastic and don’t care who gets it done. They just want to win.”

It took more than talent to get past a pesky Seaford nine. The Lady Seahawks needed the will to win and intestinal fortitude to walk off with a 9-6 victory in 10 innings. Junior Jaclyn Schemmer’s grand slam in the bottom of the tenth, a blast over the centerfield fence, gave Carey the win. Schemmer pitched seven innings to earn the victory. 

The Lady Seahawks trailed 5-2 when they came to bat in the bottom of the seventh. Freshman Destiny Nardello got the team within two runs when she hit her first career home run to lead things off. The dramatics continued when senior Marissa Nicoletti came to the plate with Carey down to its last out and one aboard. Nicoletti crushed one to right center to tie the game at 5.

Softball uses the international tiebreaker rule, which states that the team at bat starts its half of the tenth inning with a runner at second base. After the Vikings went ahead 6-5 in the top of the frame, Carey’s Julia Parinello singled to put runners at the corners. A delayed steal by Parinello and a hit batsman set the stage for Schemmer’s walk off bomb. Senior Dana Romano threw three scoreless innings in the circle.

The Seahawks kept the momentum going when it traveled to Division. Parinello, who would go 2-for-4, hit a three-run homer to highlight a five-run first inning in Carey’s 8-5 win. Nardello had a big day, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles
and three RBI. Schemmer again picked up the win.

“The formula of using the two pitchers has been working out well,” Turco said. “Jaclyn throws the ball pretty hard, and Dana keeps hitters off balance with offspeed stuff. They complement each other very well. The defense is playing well, and girls like Frankie Cirone and Arianna Millan are putting together good at bats. We’ve been working hard on situational hitting, and it’s starting to pay off.”

Carey will look to stay in the win column when Clarke comes to town this Friday for a 4:45 p.m. start.