Carey knocks off Clarke

Carey softball coach Anthony Turco said the Lady Seahawks didn’t want to put any hype on its second meeting of the season with defending Nassau Class A champion Clarke.

“We wanted to treat it just like any other game,” Turco said after Carey’s 4-1 Conference ABC-I victory over the previously undefeated Lady Rams on April 21. “Hopefully we’ll see Clarke down the line on a much bigger stage and we’ll hype it up then.”

Clarke senior pitcher Sarah Cornell had allowed just one run in seven previous games before the table-setters for Lady Seahawks (8-1 in ABC-I), junior Brianna Pinto and senior Amanda Ulzheimer, both went deep over the fence to lead the offense. Cornell, who became Long Island’s all-time strikeout leader in the loss with 1,172, tossed a perfect game against Carey in the conference opener on March 30 and struck out 17.

“Sarah’s one of the best pitchers ever on Long Island,” Turco said. “She gets ahead in the count and dictates the at-bat. She’s that good. She’s a special athlete and you need to raise your level of play if you want to beat the best.

“I’m proud of how well we played,” he added. “We used the perfect game she threw against us as a learning experience. Everything is clicking right now.”

Pinto set the tone with a double on the first pitch of the game. She was on third base when senior Samantha Romanello put down a safety squeeze, scoring Pinto for a 1-0 lead. Pinto homered to center in the fourth to make it 2-0, then scored on a passed ball in the fifth before Ulzheimer blasted a shot over the fence in right.

Clarke’s only run off Carey senior southpaw pitcher Rebecca Vilchez came in the bottom of the sixth. “Rebecca’s been excellent all year,” Turco said. “She’s been working all parts of the plate and is in total control of any situation that arises. She and our catcher, Jaclyn Rodriguez, communicate really well.”

Vilchez allowed only two hits and two walks while striking out five. It was her third outing in four days. She blanked Seaford, 1-0, on April 19, tossing a two-hitter with six strikeouts, then whiffed 10 Bethpage batters the next day in an 8-1 victory that saw Ulzheimer go 4-for-4 with three runs scored and two driven in.

“The biggest thing right now is confidence,” Turco said. “It took a little while for the confidence to rise, but now’s the best time for it to happen. We’re seeing different girls step up on different days.”

The tight game against Seaford was the second in as many meetings. The Lady Seahawks won the first meeting, 2-1, on April 1 when Francesca Cirrone singled and scored the winning run in the top of the seventh.

“We came into the rematch expecting to face Ashley [Casazza], but they threw a different pitcher [Samantha Yannetti] and we had a tough time adjusting,” Turco said.

Vilchez worked out of big trouble in the fourth on April 19, slamming the door after Seaford put runners on second and third with no outs.