Baldwin upset bid falls short

Upstart Baldwin couldn’t have put itself in better position to knock off No. 5 Mepham in the first round of the Nassau Class AA softball playoffs last Friday. The 12th-seeded Lady Bruins (16-4 overall) rallied for a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning and still had the bases loaded and cleanup hitter Katie Greene coming to the plate with no outs and Lady Pirates reliever Toni Marie Valeriano entering the circle.

The Mepham freshman, who pitched a complete game victory over defending Class AA champion East Meadow in the regular-season finale one week earlier, however, stayed on a roll. She struck out Greene and induced an inning-ending double play from the next batter, No. 5 hitter Jackie Fischer to preserve the lead in a 4-2 win.

“We wanted an opportunity to win and we had it,” Baldwin coach Tom Llewellyn said. “We played very well defensively and our outfielders made [several] good plays.”

That the fifth-inning rally was jump-started by No. 8 hitter Jade Aponte, an eighth-grader, and a walk to senior Danielle Perri, the ninth-place hitter, wasn’t a surprise to anyone. The lineup was stacked top-to-bottom all season long and their performance was a key ingredient in sophomore Carly Mertens, the leadoff hitter, driving in 63 runs--an average of more than three per game.

Mertens, an All-County selection who led Nassau County with nine home runs and scored 44 times while hitting a robust .652, was also Baldwin’s ace in the circle. Despite the loss, she limited the heart of the Mepham batting order —Claudia Law, Victoria Gunnels and Shannon McLean — to just two hits in eight at bats. And her battery mate, sophomore Liza Ueno threw out a pair of baserunners, including the Lady Pirates leadoff hitter, Nicole Pazienza, after a walk in the bottom of the first inning.

“I think they’re a great [tandem],” Llewellyn said. “They work together all year long and know what’s working and what’s not working. I let [Ueno] call all of the pitches because they’re on the same wavelength.”