Clarke steamrolls into finals

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Riding a 16-game winning streak that put the team one game from the Nassau County Class AA softball championships, Clarke found itself in a two-run hole after just one inning of the second game of its semifinals series with No. 11 Plainedge.

The Lady Rams (20-2 overall) struggled to mount an attack against Lady Devils pitcher Aarin Hartenstein until the sixth inning. But in the sixth, it became a fast and furious comeback—Clarke scored six times in the frame—as the Lady Rams ran away with a 9-3 victory on May 19. “There’s no real words to describe it,” first-year coach Rachel Barry said. “They’re not satisfied with it yet. They’ve earned it the whole way, and they know they have to work for it.”

The two-game semifinal sweep of previously unbeaten Plainedge (18-2 overall) pushed the Lady Rams into the championship best-of-three at Hofstra against No. 1 seeded Carey, a team Clarke tied atop the standings in Conference AB-I and split a pair of regular-season meetings with. The finals begin Thursday with Game 2 scheduled for Friday. Game 3 is scheduled for June 8, if necessary. Clarke is seeking its first Nassau County title since 2007, while Carey is aiming for its second straight.

Sophomore Emily Widmaier opened up the decisive sixth frame of Game 2 against the Lady Devils with a single and advanced to second on a walk by sophomore Kirstin Cox. Senior Selena Ruiz grounded a single off the glove of Hartenstein to load the bases and junior Sarah Cornell got the run party started with a single to right that drove in Widmaier. Sophomore Sabrina Caputo drew a bases loaded walk and then junior Brooke Scherer boomed a game-changing grand-slam that gave Clarke a 7-3 lead. “She hit that over 275 feet,” Barry said. “That was a home run, fence or [no fence]. To score another after that [in the inning was great].”

The sudden outburst backed up another strong effort on the mound by Cornell, who allowed just five hits and one walk and struck out 12. Cornell did most of the heavy lifting in Game 1 of the semifinals, pitching a complete game two-hitter with three walks in a 2-0 win. She struck out 14, including the 1,000th of her career, a rare milestone among softball pitchers, and got offensive support from Caputo, who had two hits and a run batted in.

As the wins piled up for Clarke, Barry noticed a new leader emerge on the team in Cox, who helped keep things steady and moving forward. “Her leadership at shortstop was incredible,” Barry said. “She was a lot more vocal and held the defense together. There was a noticeable change towards the end.”

The last time the Lady Rams lost a game was Apr. 2, to the same Lady Seahawks team it faces in the finals. But during the 17-game winning streak, Clarke did even that score, taking a 3-2 decision in the rematch on Apr. 23.“We hit well, scored early and generated enough offense to get ahead,” Barry said.