East Meadow squeaks by Mepham

In one of the stranger endings to any softball game, let alone a postseason matchup, a dead ball run awarded after a wild pitch with runners on first and third and one out in the bottom of the ninth pushed No. 2 East Meadow past No. 7 Mepham, 1-0, in the quarterfinal round of the Nassau Class AA playoffs last Monday.

Lady Jets sophomore Claire Travis scored the game’s only run after the second pitch to senior Jenna Dragoon scooted by Lady Pirates senior catcher Claudia Law and ended up in the dugout.

But as bizarre as the dead ball run may have seemed, in some ways it was a fitting end to a classic pitcher’s duel between East Meadow sophomore Kerri Shapiro and Mepham sophomore Toni Valeriano. Because the way the two were throwing, conventional runs had been impossible to come by over the first eight-plus innings. Valeriano allowed just four hits and didn’t walk a batter. In fact, neither pitcher allowed a free pass, as Shapiro gave up just six hits, while striking out nine. The two pitchers combined to go to a full count just three times.

“That’s the way this league has been all season,” Lady Jets coach Stu Fritz said, noting that 12 of his team’s 14 Conference AA-I games had been decided by two runs or fewer. “We expect this every time we take the field. But if you can string a few hits together, you have a chance to win.”

East Meadow (12-7) advanced to the semifinals Thursday at Mitchel Athletic Complex to take on No. 3 Massapequa at 4 p.m.

Over the course of the first eight innings, the Lady Jets managed just three hits, yet Travis led off the ninth with a single through the hole between shortstop and third. After a pair of failed bunt attempts by junior Emma McKillop, she took a 2-2 pitch to center field that allowed Travis to advance to third. “We couldn’t have played any better,” Mepham coach Mike Muscara said. “We had a couple of opportunities to score. They all played a great game.”

Shapiro nearly ended the game with two-outs in the seventh inning when she crushed a 1-0 pitch from Valeriano into the gap in right-center. With Fritz waving Shapiro home almost from the time she hit first base, Valeriano took the cutoff throw from senior center fielder Nicole Pazienza just behind second base and fired a perfect strike to Law at the plate well ahead of the runner. “I was just praying,” Fritz said of the aggressive decision to send Shapiro. “[Valeriano] kept us off stride and had us swinging at high pitches.”

Mepham’s best scoring opportunity came in the sixth. Sophomore Christine Rizzacasa was hit on the hip with two outs and advanced to third base on a single by Valeriano that just made it up the middle past the outstretched glove of Dragoon. But Shapiro ended the threat by inducing a grounder back to the circle.