Long Beach tops East Meadow

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A little tweak in the lineup helped Long Beach’s offense get on track in a pivotal early showdown against defending New York State softball champion East Meadow last Saturday morning.

Senior shortstop Kelsey Larson drove in a pair of runs in each of the first two innings, including a two-run homer to right-center in the top of the first, to lead Long Beach to an 8-3 road victory in Conference AA-I action. Her younger sister, sophomore pitcher Tonianne Larson provided protection as the new clean-up batter, going 2-for-4, and scattered six hits with six strikeouts as the Lady Marines improved to 2-3. Sophomore Jessica Marsala had two hits and reached base three times for the Lady Jets, who slipped to 1-4.

“This was our most complete game yet,” Long Beach coach Carmine Verde said. “We haven’t had all three phases going well on the same day. Tonianne has been the one constant. She’s been lights-out.

“All of our losses are by one run,” he added.

East Meadow also entered the game with a trio of one-run defeats in what’s shaping up to be a tight, wide-open conference. “We haven’t been getting the results we’re looking for, but it’s a young team and I’ve got faith we’re going to be heard from in the end” Lady Jets coach Stew Fritz said. “They jumped on us with a few big innings today.”

The hosts rallied in the bottom of the first to answer Kelsey Larson’s blast to make it 2-2. Senior leadoff hitter Kristen Lindquist reached on a walk and eventually scored on a wild pitch, and Marsala reached on an error and crossed the plate on a hard single by junior Mabel Christoforatos.

Long Beach pushed across three runs in the top of the second. Eighth-grader Grace Rosenberg, who assumed the leadoff role, singled home freshman Meredith Fagan with one out, then scored behind senior Marisa Scandole on Kelsey Larson’s two-run single that made it 5-2. “Teams have been pitching around her a lot,” Verde said of Larson, who drew eight walks in the first four games. “Today she came out swinging.”

The Lady Marines didn’t manage another hit against East Meadow starting pitcher Kelsey Leonard, a sophomore who was lifted in the top of the fifth after retiring seven of the last eight batters she faced. Freshman Christina Loeffler came on to get both Larsons on flies to center.

The Lady Jets pushed across a run in the bottom of the inning on junior Crista San Antonio’s pop single to right, but had another runner cut down at the plate by Tonianne Larson. The visitors tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh, with senior Rachel Brenner and freshman Paulina Cardona each collecting RBI singles.

“Today was our best offensive day of the season,” Verde said. “Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.”

Long Beach’s first conference victory was a 3-0 decision at Hicksville on April 7. Larson tossed a gem, allowing one hit with 14 strikeouts. Rosenberg had three hits and knocked in a pair of runs.

East Meadow’s first victory of 2015 was a dramatic one. On April 7, Christoforatos hit a walk-off two-run homer to beat Mepham, 6-5. Sophomore Gianna Azzato went 4-for-4 with two RBIs, and Leonard picked up the win after recording 10 outs in relief without yielding a hit.

“We’re only going to get better,” Fritz said.