South Side edged by Oyster Bay

Oyster Bay spotted South Side a three-run lead after one inning but battled back to win last Friday’s Conference ABC-II softball matchup, 8-5, behind Caroline Kelly’s four hits and freshman pitcher Dana Galgano’s 11 strikeouts.

Kelly hit a two run homer in the top of the second, singled in the fourth, singled home a run in the fifth, and singled in the seventh. Galgano, who allowed 12 hits but didn’t walk a batter, helped her own cause in the fifth with a two-run single to give the Lady Baymen a 7-4 lead. The Lady Cyclones got multi-hit games from catcher Lia Stamile (3-for-4, including a homer and two RBIs), pitcher Sam Maselli, Victoria Boldis, Sarah Buckley and Katherine Scott.

“We’re closely matched teams,” Oyster Bay coach Ashley Vinti said. “Coming off three tough losses in a row, we really needed this game. They jumped on us early, but Dana settled down and we got the offense going. 

“Nothing seems to rattle Dana out there,” she added. “She keeps her composure, and we saw that again today.”

South Side (2-4 in conference play; 3-5 overall) came out swinging, with four of its first five batters reaching on a hit. Katelyn Benincasa led off with a single, and Boldis followed with a single. With one out, Stamile doubled to right-center to score Benincasa with the game’s first run. Maselli then lined a single up the middle to bring home Boldis and Stamile, giving the hosts a 3-0 lead and tripling its production from a 6-1 defeat at Oyster Bay in the conference opener.

“Overall, scores aren’t reflecting how we’re playing,” Lady Cyclones coach Shannon McEntee said. “We’ve been playing pretty well. We gave them a much better game today than we did the first time.”

Oyster Bay (4-3 in conference play; 4-6 overall) scored twice in the fourth and led 4-3 on Kelly’s first of three straight singles, but South Side pulled even in the bottom half of the inning when Scott knocked in Buckley. It was in the fifth that the Lady Baymen went ahead for good with three runs on three hits. All nine batters came to the plate in an inning that saw Danielle Agostinello collect her second of three hits on the day to drive in Joanna Sugar with the go-ahead run.

“This was the halfway point of the conference schedule,” Vinti said. “We’ve had some ups and downs, but hopefully we can keep moving in the right direction.”

Down 8-3 in the bottom of the sixth, South Side loaded the bases on singles by Buckley and Scott, and a walk to Boldis, but Galgano ended the threat on a bouncer back to the circle. Stamile opened the seventh by launching a long homer to left, marking the second time in three games she cracked a round-tripper. The sophomore backstop homered and drove in five runs in a 9-6 win at Locust Valley on April 15 that saw Maselli, a junior, strike out 15. 

It was the first win for Oyster Bay since April 6, when Olivia Agostinello (4-for-5, four RBIs) and Michelle Morris (3-for-4, four RBIs) led a 17-4 rout of Floral Park.