Thursday, October 1, 2026
Given the dominant arts of East Islip’s Cate Ropiak and Glen Cove’s Brooke Simmons throughout the postseason, it wasn’t going to take many runs to decide the Long Island Class AA softball championship Wednesday afternoon at Farmingdale State College.
And as it turned out, one run would be all Ropiak and the Redmen needed to make program history.
Ropiak, a freshman, fired a three-hit gem with 11 strikeouts and drove in the eventual winning run with a fifth-inning single as East Islip captured its first-ever L.I. title, 2-0.
“It’s a beautiful feeling,” Redmen coach Jason McGowan said. “Their pitcher was ridiculous and I can’t say enough about Cate. I’m so proud of our kids. They’ve been battling all year.”
Simmons, a junior who two days earlier led the Big Red (14-11) to its first Nassau crown since 1985, allowed no hits through four innings and finished with 10 strikeouts in a five-hitter.
“It was a great season and we hate to see it end, but we made history,” Glen Cove coach Kim Kessel said. “Both pitchers were tremendous and you can’t win if you can’t score. We had some opportunities we didn’t capitalize on and their speed was a big difference in the game.”
In addition to the speed Ropiak dialed up from the circle, plenty was provided off the bench in the bottom of the fifth when McGowan called on eighth grader Emily Saccone, who was elevated to the varsity roster just a few weeks ago, to pinch run for cleanup batter Kayla Varga, who led off the inning with a single.
Saccone promptly stole second an advanced to third on a throwing error. Ropiak then drove an 0-2 pitch up the middle for an RBI single to provide herself with all the support she’d need.
“Whatever it takes,” Ropiak said. “We’ve been in tight games the entire playoffs and I just wanted to make sure I put the ball in play and got the run home.”
Glen Cove’s biggest threat came an inning earlier when Simmons and Mia Lupinski opened the frame with back-to-back singles. The next batter, Julia Petrizzo hit a hard comebacker to Ropiak, who fielded it cleanly and threw to third to erase the lead runner. Ropiak got the next two hitters on a flyout to left and a grounder to second to douse the fire.
“She’s just so composed and consistent,” East Islip junior catcher Reagan O’Hara said of Ropiak.
East Islip (20-7), which has no seniors on its roster, tacked on an insurance run in the sixth. Sophomore Marisa Renganeschi drew a one-out walk and swiped second to get into scoring position. Then with two outs, Varga went the other way and hit a long double to left for a 2-0 lead.
Fittingly, Ropiak ended it with a strikeout.
“It’s weird when you get to this stage and see a team you hardly know anything about,” Kessel said. “East Islip is strong and ready to take on whoever’s next.”
The Redmen will face Clarkstown South (Section I) in a state Class AA regional final at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Martha Avenue Field in Bellport.
