Thursday, October 1, 2026
Babylon appears to have closed the gap on Carle Place, but the Frogs are still the top dogs in Long Island Class B softball.
Behind pitcher Marissa Nosovitch, who struck out 15 including the first nine in order and drove in the game’s first run, Carle Place repeated as L.I. champs Wednesday night with a 6-2 victory over the Panthers at Farmingdale State College.
“She’s so intense and sets the tone,” Carle Place coach Alyssa Allen said of Nosovitch, who exited the game briefly in the top of the fifth inning.
The Frogs (19-5) move on to the state Class B semifinal June 13 at Greenlight Networks Grand Slam Park in Binghamton. Babylon finished with 15 wins — all recorded by eighth grade pitcher Sophia Haggerty-Cori — in 20 games.
“Our season went well,” Babylon coach Nicole O’Donnell said. “We had a goal to get back here and we knew who we’d be facing. We wanted to be better in this spot than we were last year when they beat us 7-2. Today our defense was stronger and we manufactured some runs. I think we can only go up from here.”
The Frogs scored twice in the bottom of the first and added three runs in the third and one in the fifth. They also swiped seven bases. Isabella Roman had RBI singles in the first and fifth.
The Panthers started to make some noise in the fourth after Nosovitch blew threw the lineup the first time around the order. Addy Janawsky reached on an error with one out and Eliana Romero followed with a walk. But Nosovitch made a clutch defensive play in the circle to get a force at third for the second out and ended the threat with another K.
Trailing 5-0, Babylon got on the board in the fifth. Nosovitch briefly exited the game and Carissa Arena singled to give the Panthers their first hit and scored on a passed ball to break the shutout. Isabella Mollico singled and scored on an error to cut the deficit to 5-2. But Nosovitch re-entered and picked up a strikeout to end the inning with Hazel Bivona on third base.
After Roman drove in Nosovitch in the fifth for a 6-2 lead, Babylon threatened again in each of the last two innings. In the sixth, Roman reached to lead things off and eventually was stranded on third. Then in the seventh, Angelina Durler and Bivona both singled, but Nosovitch struck out the side to seal the outcome.
“I’m really proud of our kids,” O’Donnell said. “We haven’t played for 20 days and that’s tough. They didn’t give up. It’ll be the same goal next year. We want to be back and make it a different result.”
