Mepham advances with 4-0 win

Mepham generated plenty of battery power in last Friday's 4-0 victory over No. 12 Baldwin in the first round of the Nassau Class AA softball playoffs.

The fifth-seeded Lady Pirates (7-9) were boosted by the arm of junior pitcher Victoria Gunnels, who pitched a complete game four-hitter with eight strikeouts and no walks, and the bat of sophomore catcher Claudia Law, who drove in a pair of runs.

"It was the best she pitched all year." Mepham coach Mike Muscara said.

The Lady Pirates won for the seventh time in their last 10 games on the strength of Gunnels, who retired the final seven batters she faced and allowed just one Lady Bruins' runner to advance past second base. She retired the side in order in four of the seven innings and got some help from the defense when Baldwin did manage to get a runner to first. Junior shortstop Kristan Taylor snagged a grounder and tossed it to junior second baseman Shannon McLean for the force at second in the fifth, and the inning ended one batter later on a hard grounder to sophomore third Casey Thomas at third base.

In the fourth, Baldwin had runners on second and third with two outs after pair of singles and pitch that skipped to the backstop, but Gunnels took care of business by striking out Katie Greene looking.

"We were one swing away from tying it up, but the balls didn't fall our way today," Lady Bruins coach Tom Llewellyn said. 

Gunnels also had a hand in staking Mepham out to a 2-0 lead just four batters into the bottom half of the first. Sophomore center fielder Nicole Pazienza led off by reaching on an error when her bunt was thrown into right field by Lady Bruins catcher Sam Vani. After advancing to second on the overthrow, Pazienza moved to third on a strikeout and scored easily when Law boomed a double to deep center. Gunnels followed with a line-drive double down the third-base line to drive in Law.

"We got some timely hits in that first inning," Muscara said. "For us as a team, we need to get a lead."

The margin ballooned to four in the fifth with the top of the order again doing the damage. Pazienza led off with an infield single to second and took second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Nicole Castaldo. Law then ripped the first pitch she saw to left for a run-scoring single. With Gunnels at the plate, Law swiped second and moved to third when Gunnels flew out to deep right. McLean followed with a single just past the outstretched glove of Greene to drive in Law with the game's final run.

"In the fifth we scored with little ball," Muscara said. "We had a couple of singles, a bunt and a couple of steals."

Another win would put Mepham in the semfinals on Thursday at Mitchel Athletic Complex.