Lady Marines slip below .500

After back-to-back losses leading up to spring break, Long Beach sits in unfamiliar territory — under .500 through nine games— in the Nassau Conference AA-I softball standings as the season enters the stretch run.

“We’re struggling a little and need to generate more offense,” Lady Marines coach Carmine Verde said. “We’ve had some games where we spotted teams early runs and had trouble catching up, but we’ve also found ways to beat the top two seeds.”

Long Beach (4-5 in conference play, 4-6 overall) scrimmaged Oceanside, New Hyde Park and Seaford during the weeklong break and worked on improving its baserunning as well as finding a lineup that clicks. “I went with a new lineup each scrimmage,” said Verde, “and we’re probably going to try something different when we get back and face East Meadow. Hopefully we’ll find a lineup that allows us to be more consistent.”

The Lady Marines went into the break on the heels of a 5-3 setback to visiting Mepham on April 15 despite getting 12 hits off winning pitcher Toni Marie Valeriano, a freshman making her first varsity start. “She only walked one and had good control,” Verde said of Valeriano, who was filling in for Victoria Gunnels. “We hit the ball. We just didn’t string too many hits together.”

Down five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Long Beach strung together five singles to score twice and load the bases with no outs. Sophomore Ashley Martin and senior Krystal Carrasquillo had run-scoring hits, plating senior Mallorie Larson and junior Kelsey McLaughlin, respectively. But Valeriano induced a huge pitcher-to-catcher-to-first double play and eventually worked out of the jam. 

The previous day saw Martin pitch a gem, only to be outdone by Farmingdale’s Isabella Corrao in a 1-0 extra-inning loss. It was the second time this spring they hooked up in a serious pitcher’s duel. Martin and the Lady Marines won the first, 2-1. “Both were great games,” Verde said. “The pitching was just tremendous. We scored an unearned run to beat them and they scored an unearned run to beat us.”

The only run of the rematch came in the top of the eighth when a dropped popup was followed by a dunk single and a hard-hit single, the last coming off the bat of Emily Dorso to win it. Martin struck out 15 batters, while Corrao fanned 18. Long Beach’s best scoring chance came in the first when it loaded the bases with two outs on a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch.

Of the Lady Marines’ five remaining opponents, they’ve beaten three (MacArthur, Syosset, Carey) and lost to two. Freshman Brianna Rivera had the key hit at MacArthur, Larson and sophomore Christy Fox drove in two runs apiece in the home win over Syosset, and McLaughlin, who is hitting .360 and leads the team in RBI, cracked a grand slam over the fence in left at Carey to lead an 8-1 victory.