Conference crown for Lady Jets

A two-out, three-run rally in the top of the fourth inning propelled East Meadow to a 6-3 Conference AA-I softball title-clinching victory at Carey on May 6.

Winning pitcher Lindsay McKillop capped the outburst with a run-scoring single and allowed only one run over the final six innings as the Lady Jets improved to 13-1 and secured the No. 1 seed in the Nassau Class AA playoffs, which open Friday. She scattered seven hits, walked two and struck out six.

“Teams are so close in talent level in this conference, and every game comes down to who makes the plays and who doesn’t,” East Meadow coach Cindy McCarthy said. “Today we got some big hits and made big plays in the field.

“It’s nice to win the conference, but we know the playoffs are ahead of us and we’ll take things one game at a time.”

Carey, the county runner-up to Long Beach a year ago and Oceanside in 2008, had its 10-game winning streak snapped. The Lady Seahawks (11-3) hadn’t lost since dropping a 1-0 decision at East Meadow on April 10. McKillop’s counterpart, fellow senior Patty Callahan, allowed 11 hits and one walk and struck out nine.

“All year we’ve been picking each other up, but we didn’t today,” Carey coach Anthony Turco said. “It’s fine. We’ll be OK. I’m glad we got it out of our system now.” 

Both teams came out swinging and plated a pair of runs in their first turn at-bat. East Meadow senior Rachel Sidney opened the game with a double and scored on an error, and after one out junior Jamie Laird laced a single to score freshman Danielle Cutuli. Carey pulled even in a hurry with junior Jessica Doria cracking a two-run homer over the fence in left-center, scoring junior Brianne Catalano (3-for-3) in front of her.

It was 2-2 in the fourth when a two-out bunt single by junior Christine Backer triggered a chain of events that eventually made the difference for the Lady Jets. Backer advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored the go-ahead run when a Sidney drive to left found the sun but not the outfielder’s glove. Cutuli doubled in Sidney with a deep shot to center and scored when a bloop by McKillop found some real estate.

“We had one bad inning,” Turco said. “It happens. We’ve played well all year and there’s no doubt in my mind we can beat anyone when we’re on.”

McKillop shut the door on Carey after the teams traded runs in the fifth. She squashed a potential rally in the sixth with a nifty double play, catching a bunt attempt for one out and firing to junior Samantha Miller, who crept in from center field to cover second base, for the other.

“I knew Samantha would be there,” McKillop said. “It was a big play.”

East Meadow hosts Syosset or Plainview in a Class AA quarterfinal playoff game on Tuesday at 4 p.m.