Malverne wins conference title

The first indication that the Lady Mules were in for a great season came as a result of their being down nine runs to Lynbrook on April 6. Jen Gibbons’ team was already off to a 3-2 start, including a 19-7 victory over Wheatley two days earlier, and had won 10 games in 2012. But here they were on the wrong end of an 11-2 score against a good team, and it was suddenly time to find out how good they really were.

“They had a tendency to rally when they really needed it,” Gibbons said.

Rally they did. The Lady Mules came all the way back to tie Lynbrook at 11-11, then scored the game winner on a passed ball in the bottom of the seventh inning. Just like that, no deficit was too much for them to overcome. They’d go on to win nine of their last 10 games and finish at the top of the Conference V standings.

At the onset of the season, the Mules had to overcome the departure of two seniors Gibbons had been counting on to lead the team. Those two players decided not to play, and so Gibbons instead fortified her roster with some talent from the junior varsity.

“It worked out,” Gibbons said. “It was very important to be able to get some players from the JV, which is something we didn’t have four or five years ago.”

Most of the punch Gibbons needed was already on the roster. Sydney Witowski, an All-County selection, led the way. In addition to pitching dominantly – she was the pitcher of record in each of Malverne’s 14 wins – Witowski anchored the lineup, batting fourth and smashing nine home runs. Racquelle Findlayter, an all-conference selection, was a perfect catalyst; she had a high on-base percentage and stole bases at will. “She is unbelievably fast,” Gibbons said. Kym Danns was an RBI machine in the middle of the order. There were also strong contributions from Michelle Kretz, Quasia Young, Kayisha Ulysse and Shantel Oliver.

Oliver went 3-for-4 in the pivotal first win over Lynbrook. Two weeks later, Malverne lost to Lynbrook by a score of 11-3. The Mules won the rubber game on May 1, 8-2, as Witowski struck out six and Kretz cracked three hits. On May 3, they beat Roosevelt 13-1.

All that was left was to finish the season on a winning note. That goal was in jeopardy until Kretz singled home Young in the bottom of the sixth in a 10-9 win over Great Neck North on May 6. The Mules finished 14-5 overall, and 10-2 in Conference V.

Gibbons suspected they’d be strong, but she didn’t know how strong until they were nine runs down to Lynbrook in early April.