East Meadow tops Baldwin in thriller

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As East Meadow coach Stew Fritz trotted out to coach third base for the bottom of the seventh inning with his team trailing No. 11 Baldwin by a run, he calmly mentioned to parents in the crowd how exciting the game had been to that point. And then his sixth-seeded Lady Jets took the term “excitement” to another level with a come-from-behind, 6-5, victory in the first round of the Nassau County Class AA playoffs on May 13.

With the bases loaded and one out, freshman pitcher Christina Loeffler, who entered the game in relief and didn’t allow a run in nearly three innings of work, grounded a ball back to Baldwin senior pitcher Melanie Sadowski. The Lady Bruins (15-4) got one out on the force at home, but the throw to first sailed into the outfield, allowing senior Nicole Gogh to score from second with the winning run.

“Our first four games of the season were walkoffs,” Fritz said. “One thing I will say about these girls is that they never quit. They don’t quit and I give them so much credit.”

Added Baldwin coach Tom Llewellyn: “It was one of those games you forget about everything for those two hours. It was probably one of the most intense games I’ve ever been a part of. You can’t ask for a better game. The only thing I would have changed [was the outcome], but I tip my cap [to East Meadow]. They played a good game.”

The defending state champion Lady Jets (10-10) dropped another nailbiter in the second round last Friday, a 6-5 battle with Massapequa. East Meadow led by two with two outs in the bottom of the sixth against the No. 3 seeded Lady Chiefs, but a three-run triple cleared the bases.

Senior Gianna Azzato blasted an 0-2 pitch from Sadowski over the head of Baldwin centerfielder Alex Burns and raced around for an inside-the-park homer—her second of the game—that tied the score at 5. Following a popout on the infield, junior cleanup hitter Mabel Christoforatos blasted a pitch to the left field fence that was caught by sophomore Montia Moon but ruled a trap by the umpire, and Gogh followed with her second hit of the day.

Junior Crista San Antonio capped a run of three straight singles top open the fifth driving in senior Jessica Marsala with a base hit to center that cut Baldwin’s lead to 5-4.

Loeffler entered the game with one out in the fourth, and just after Lady Bruins’ freshman catcher Yanique Spencer blasted a three-run homer to left centerfield that put Baldwin ahead by two. Loeffler struck out Moon and then senior Taylor Samuel to close the door and made it four strikeouts in a row when she punched out junior Taylor Krucher and senior Raquel Rodriguez to open the sixth. “Christina came in and calmed everyone down,” Fritz said.

Senior Kelsey Leonard, who pitched a gritty four-plus innings, started the game and allowed eight hits and a walk with one strikeout, limiting a potent Baldwin offense that had scored 61 runs in its previous four games and won the Conference AA-II regular season title. “We thought [Kelsey] Leonard gave us a good matchup,” Fritz said. “We knew they could hit but they had a lot of trouble timing [her].”

Junior Jessica Laird plated Gogh and senior Rachel Travis with a two-run single in the fourth. Azzato opened the scoring in the first with her first homer, a drive to right field that hooked into the corner.