Long Beach nips Oceanside, 2-0

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A new champion will be crowned in Nassau Class AA softball after No. 4 Long Beach upended fifth-seeded Oceanside, 2-0, in a well-played quarterfinal playoff game last Saturday.

Long Beach’s Tonianne Larson and Oceanside’s Sabrina Seeger locked into a classic pitchers’ duel before one took matters into her own hands with extra innings looming. Larson’s one-out RBI double into the gap in right-center broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth and Kirsthie Rodriguez singled her home with an insurance run as the Lady Marines (11-7) advanced to face top-seeded MacArthur in a best-of-three semifinal series.

“The pitch was a little higher than I like, but I really wanted to swing and figured I’d at least foul it off,” said Larson, who struck out seven and walked one and went 2-for-3 at the plate. “The way the game was going and how well we were playing defense, I felt like one run was going to be enough.”

Each team had only one hit through 5 1/2 innings. The winning rally started when Colleen Mannle opened the bottom of the sixth with a bunt single. One out later, on a 2-1 pitch, Larson laced a line drive that zipped between outfielders and reached the fence. Mannle raced all around the bases and barely beat the relay throw to the plate for the game’s first run.

“When I saw the ball go all the way to the fence, there was no way I was stopping Colleen at third,” Long Beach coach Carmine Verde said. “In the bottom of the sixth, with the way both pitchers were dealing and getting big outs, I knew I had to be aggressive. The second run was also huge because it changed the whole dynamic of the top of the seventh.”

Oceanside (4-15), which beat MacArthur in last year’s county championship series, had the tying run at the plate with one out in the top of the seventh before Larson got a fielder’s choice to shortstop and a grounder to second to close it out. The Lady Sailors were held to two hits, none through three innings, but threatened in the fourth with runners on second and third after Taylor Eisel’s single, a walk to Seeger and a wild pitch.

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