Lynbrook holds off Hewlett

Lynbrook secured a third-place finish in Conference A-III and punched its ticket to the Nassau Class A softball playoffs by holding off Hewlett, 3-2, behind junior pitcher Rebecca Tisdell last Friday at Atlantic Avenue field.

Tisdell, who scattered five hits, walked five and struck out nine, recorded the final out with the potential tying run on third base when her outstretched glove snagged sophomore Nicole Rizzo’s hard-hit chopper up the middle. She also escaped a bases-loaded jam the previous inning.

“We were this close to being tied,” Lady Owls coach Peter Toscano said while holding two of his fingers about an inch apart. “Rebecca made a great play at the end,” he added. “She looked surprised to see the ball come down in her glove. Our defense was a little shaky today, but at the same time we made some big plays.”

The Lady Bulldogs, who finished 4-8 in conference play and likely out of the playoffs based on West Hempstead’s outcome in its final game, outhit Lynbrook (6-6) but had runners thrown out at the plate in the first and second innings and a costly baserunning mistake in the seventh.

“Lynbrook gave us a game earlier in the year and we just gave it back,” Hewlett coach Vinny Lospinuso said. “We just had a big win against Roslyn and the effort was there, but we didn’t play smart.”

Senior pitcher Mackie Sperry was tough in the circle for the Lady Bulldogs and yielded only four hits and three walks and struck out four. Like Tisdell, she worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. “Mackie’s been throwing well all year,” Lospinuso said. 

Hewlett, which beat Roslyn 9-8 the previous night on Rizzo’s walk-off sacrifice fly, scored a run in the first against Tisdell when senior Alex Gioia singled home freshman Amy Vitha (2-for-4) but had senior leadoff batter Ricki Stumacher cut down at the plate for the first out.