Long Beach reaches title series

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There was no such thing as home-field advantage in last week’s Nassau Class AA softball playoff best-of-three semifinal series between No. 2 Massapequa and No. 3 Long Beach.

The road team prevailed in all three games, including Long Beach’s 5-3 victory in the decisive Game 3 on May 18. Winning pitcher Tonianne Larson scattered six hits and walked two while striking out eight and helped her own cause with a two-run double in the top of the first as the Lady Marines advanced to face top-seeded East Meadow in the county championship series.

“A lot of different kids chipped in with big plays throughout the series,” Long Beach coach Carmine Verde said. “We’re going to need the whole lineup again in the finals and we need to continue to improve the defense.”

The series finale was the sixth meeting between the teams this spring. Each won three games. “There’s a nice mutual respect between us and Massapequa,” Verde said. “They coached a great series. They have a good short game and speed and did everything they could to neutralize Tonianne after the first game.”

Larson, a senior, etched her name into the program’s record book May 15 when she threw her second straight no-hitter. On the heels of a 1-0 no-hit victory over No. 6 Baldwin three days earlier, she struck out 17 — also for a second consecutive outing — while walking three and allowing just an unearned run in a 5-1 win over Massapequa in the series opener.

“Tonianne just dominated the first game and didn’t let Massapequa’s power hitters have any big games throughout the series,” Verde said. “She also hit really well.”

The Lady Marines (13-7 overall) trailed 1-0 before scoring four runs in the top of the fifth. Junior Meredith Fagan smacked a go-ahead two-run double and pinch-hitter Lainie Kassap, an eighth-grader recently called up from JV, laced a two-run single to make it 4-1. Larson’s RBI single in the sixth provided an insurance run.

Long Beach came within a strike of closing out the series in Game 2 at home the following day. However, Massapequa forced extra innings when Julia Ruocchio singled home Jenna DeFina (5-for-5) and won it, 7-5, with three runs in the top of the eighth. The Lady Marines dug a 3-0 hole in the first inning thanks to some defensive struggles, but scored twice in the third and took the lead in the fourth on junior Paulina Cardona’s two-run blast.

The finale was 2-2 in the fifth when Long Beach rallied for three runs. Junior Colleen Mannle and Cardona set the table with singles. The go-ahead run scored on an error, and sophomore Megan Korotz had the big insurance hit, a two-run single.

The Lady Chiefs were threatening in the bottom of the sixth with runners on first and second with no outs when Long Beach senior Eleanor Byrne made what Verde called the “defensive play of the year” when she dove to snag a liner and doubled off the lead runner. Massapequa had the tying run at the plate in the seventh when Byrne ended it with another nifty defensive play at second base.