Hewlett comes out swinging

While the opening month of the Nassau County high school spring sports season was plagued by horrendous playing conditions, the adverse weather didn’t seem to bother Hewlett’s softball bats.

The Lady Bulldogs, who won 14 of 16 games and a conference title a year ago, came out swinging with four consecutive victories and 61 runs against ABC-V rivals. “It’s been a rough start in terms of weather, but it really hasn’t affected us on the field,” coach Vin Lospinuso said. “We use a lot of quality hitting drills. We did the best we could swinging in the cages in the gym for almost all of March to get ready. We only got outside five times before the opener. Everyone is looking forward to nicer weather.”

When the weather finally improved late last week, Hewlett’s game at Floral Park was forced to be rescheduled since a handful of members were away on a music trip to Montreal. The Lady Bulldogs put up a season-high 22 runs, including 13 in the top of the first inning, when the teams met on March 29 and won by 14 via the mercy rule. Sophomore Emma Blumenstein slammed a pair of homers as part of a 4-for-5 day and had 6 RBIs, and senior Harper Manus (4-for-5, 4 RBIs) and sophomore Izzy Martino (3-for-5, 3 RBIs) also went deep.

That win came on the heels of a wild opener two days earlier when Hewlett squandered a five-run lead after four innings but then rallied in its final turn at-bat with three runs in the sixth to stun visiting North Shore, 8-7, in a game called early due to darkness. 

In an unusual walk-off ending, the deciding run (eighth-grader Molly Williams) crossed the plate on a catcher’s interference call with the bases loaded and no outs with junior Kate Geotina at the plate.

“I’ve never won a game like that in my life,” Lospinuso said. 

It appeared as though the Lady Bulldogs wouldn’t need heroics after scoring three times in the second and twice in the fourth to give freshman pitcher Valarie Liao-Greene a 5-0 cushion. However, the Lady Vikings got going in the fifth and pulled even. Then, in the top of the sixth, North Shore pushed across a pair of runs to take a 7-5 lead.

Hewlett cut the margin in half on a Manus sac fly and junior Dayne Beissel drew a walk with the bases juiced to tie it. Manus drove in four runs.

Lospinuso’s club also notched a back-and-forth 15-11 triumph at Jericho on April 5. It scored five runs in the first, four in the second and three in the third to build a 12-5 lead. The hosts responded with six runs in the fifth before the Lady Bulldogs tacked on insurance. Martino had three doubles and knocked in four runs, while Liao-Greene (.600 batting average, team-leading 12 runs) helped her own cause with four hits and four runs.

Blumenstein (.620 avg., five homers, 16 RBIs) had the hottest bat April 9 at Great Neck South with three homers and nine RBIs to lead a 16-0 win.

“We’re off to a nice start but we’ve got some tough opponents ahead,” Lospinuso said.