Thursday, October 1, 2026
Carey senior Jenna Turato was masterful exactly when the Lady Seahawks (21-3 overall) needed her most—with their season on the line in Game 2 of the best-of-three Nassau County Class AA softball finals against No. 2 Clarke (21-3) last Friday.
Having already dropped the first game, 6-1, on the same field at Hofstra University one day earlier, Turato allowed just four hits and didn’t allow a single base runner to pass second base in a 6-0 shutout that not only snapped the Lady Rams 18-game winning streak but more importantly evened the series at one game and kept Carey’s hopes of a second consecutive title alive. If Clarke comes out on top in Game 3, rescheduled for Wednesday at 4:30 p.m., it will be the program’s first county title since 2007.
“She went out and took control,” Carey coach Anthony Turco said of Turato. “She’s been here five years and knows what it takes. Today was a team effort. We didn’t play defense [in the Game 1 loss] and the girls knew it. She hits her spots and we play defense. That’s our formula [for success].”
Turato struck out six, didn’t walk a batter and had plenty of help from her defense which played flawless. Junior Rebecca Vilchez blasted a 1-and-2 pitch from Clarke senior Sarah Cornell well over the left field wall to provide Turato with all the offensive support she would need. But the Lady Seahawks broke the game open with three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth with sophomore Brianna Pinto and junior Amanda Ulzheimer in the middle of both rallies. Pinto started off the fifth with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ulzheimer.
Running on the first pitch to senior Ruth Rodriguez, Pinto stole third and scored after a collision at the bag with Clarke senior Lauren Reilly forced the throw into short left field. Following a walk to Vilchez and strikeout by junior Samantha Romanello, who made it to second after the ball went to the backstop, Turato ripped a hard grounder under the glove of junior Holly Romeo that scored both runners.
“Pinto and Ulzheimer are the catalysts,” Turco said. “As they go, we go and they went today.”
Cornell and the Lady Rams suffered through a few bad luck bloop hits, particularly in the sixth when Carey generated a pair of runs with only one ball even crossing the pitcher’s circle, a sac fly from Vilchez. Three straight infield hits followed an inning-opening error, one of six Clarke had in the game.
“[Thursday] we capitalized on their mistakes and put the ball in play,” Lady Rams coach Rachel Barry said. “Today we had a tough time. We dug ourselves an early hole.”
In Game 1 it was Cornell who made life tough—on the Lady Seahawks—by not only striking out 12 but also blasting a three-run home run in the fifth that propelled Clarke to its 18th straight win, 6-1.
