By:TONY BELLISSIMO
The Lady Marines (20-0) broke open a tight game with five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, sparked by freshman Melissa Donnelly's two-run single. Seniors Krista Yulfo and Jessica Frumer also had run-scoring hits in the outburst, which was more than enough support for junior pitcher Jessie Scaglione, who scattered five hits with no walks while striking out two.
"Massapequa's a very solid team," Long Beach Coach Carmine Verde said. "The first one is always tough to get through. We had them on the ropes from the beginning, but some strange things happened and we didn't get off to a big lead."
Junior Casey Fee singled home Donnelly in the first inning, but Fee was left stranded, and the Lady Marines left three more runners on base over the next two innings. But in the fourth, freshman call-up Lauren Urbont, the starting pitcher on the JV squad, led off with a single and went to third on a double by senior Sarah Axelson. Pinch-runners Rebecca Sanger and Ashley Passaro took over for Urbont and Axelson, and both eventually came around to score. Yulfo and junior Adrian Kaye had bunt singles prior to the run-scoring hits by Donnelly and Frumer.
"I think it was big that Jessie shut them down after we didn't score in the second or third innings," Verde said. "Then we got her some runs."
Long Beach hasn't allowed an opponent to score more than three times in any game, so the Lady Chiefs were in obvious trouble heading into the final three innings. They pushed across a run in the sixth, but Scaglione - who, along with sophomore catcher Valerie Brittell, works closely with assistant coach Toni Papetti, who calls the pitches - allowed only one base runner in the seventh.
With the win, the Lady Marines advanced to the county semifinals, where they'll face No. 4 Syosset, a quarterfinal round winner over Baldwin, on Thursday at 4 p.m. at Mitchel Athletic Complex.
Long Beach beat Syosset in two hard-fought conference games, 4-0 on April 17 and 2-1 on May 11. "It's not going to get any easier," Verde said. "We just have to keep plugging away and do our best."
