Baldwin falls short of playoffs

Despite an eight-game midseason winning streak against conference rivals and earning a 25-percent share of the AA-II title, Baldwin was unable to qualify for the Nassau Class AA softball playoffs after dropping back-to-back play-in games last week.

“It was a roller coaster ride and unfortunately we weren’t able to get through,” coach Tom Llewellyn said. “It took the committee an hour to decide how to handle the tiebreaker because the odds are very slim four teams finish with the same record. Ultimately, I think it was a good decision. Every team had two chances to get into the playoffs.” 

Baldwin, Mepham, Farmingdale and Port Washington all finished in a tie for the conference top spot with a 9-3 record after Baldwin beat Farmingdale, and Mepham took down Hicksville, on the final day of the regular season on May 9. Making the tiebreaker complicated was the fact all four co-leaders split with each other and went 6-0 against the rest of the teams.

“We basically played three playoff games in a row,” Llewellyn said. “It was exciting to be part of history, but we didn’t get it done.” 

The Lady Bruins were one out away from advancing to the playoffs, leading Farmingdale by a run with two outs in the seventh inning of the first play-in game on May 10. However, a couple of errors opened the door for the Lady Dalers and they scored five runs for a 14-10 victory. “We played a great game right up until we were one out away,” said Llewellyn, whose team trailed 5-0 early but rallied to lead 9-8 after four innings.

The following day, it was win or go home for Baldwin (14-7 overall) and despite managing 10 hits against Port Washington pitcher Emma Lupoli, it came up short, 11-2. “We just didn’t get it done with runners on base,” Llewellyn said. “We had two runners on or the bases loaded almost every inning. They also made some big defensive plays on hard-hit balls up the middle. Sometimes, the ball just doesn’t roll your way.”

With a similar fate on the line in the regular-season finale, the Lady Bruins ran on all cylinders to beat Farmingdale, 10-3, to guarantee themselves at least a share of the conference championship. Sophomores Alex Burns and Yaya Spencer, who ranked first and second, respectively, on Long Island in homers during the regular season, both went deep. Burns, who had 12 dingers this spring, hit a solo shot in the first, while Spencer, who had 11 round-trippers, smacked a grand slam in the sixth.

Burns (.560 batting average, 43 RBIs), Spencer (.513, 41) and junior Montia Moon (.495, 30 runs, nine steals) all earned All-County honors. Freshman catcher Juliet Bernstein was tremendous down the stretch and hit .467, while junior pitcher Lindsay Partridge had a 2.40 ERA and won nine decisions. Taylor Krucher (.480, 25 RBIs) and Erin Englehart (.390, two homers) both had impressive senior campaigns.

“We’ll definitely be back next year,” Llewellyn said.