By Tony Bellissimo
Junior Lauren Futterman and freshman Melanie Ruderman each drove in three runs to back the pitching of sophomore Katie Guarneri, who carried a shutout into the sixth inning. Ruderman's home run highlighted a five-run outburst in the fifth.
"Melanie hit a line drive between left and center and it kept going," Lady Eagles Coach Artie Riccio said. "They made every play in the first four innings. We hit the ball hard all day but didn't find any holes until the last few innings."
It was Central's second win over Elmont this spring. On April 17, junior Tabitha Mirandas' two-run single in the sixth inning broke a 1-1 tie and proved the difference. "There's not a big gap between teams in this conference," Riccio explained. "Pretty much every game has been competitive."
After winning just three games in 2006, the Lady Eagles have an excellent chance to more than triple that number. Games against Port Washington, Uniondale, Hempstead and Farmingdale remain.
In the first go-round, Central went 3-1 against those teams and played perhaps its poorest game of the season on a rain-soaked field at Farmingdale, losing 15-2. "We're looking forward to playing Farmingdale at our place," Riccio said, referring to the May 14 finale at Firemen's Field. "I think we'll give them a much better game this time. We were off that day and they were on."
The previous game saw the Lady Eagles win in heroic fashion. Senior shortstop Jennifer Lind provided the fireworks, cracking a grand slam in the top of the sixth to put them ahead by a run en route to an 8-6 victory over Hempstead. "It was absolutely the most exciting game so far," Riccio said. "There were two out and Jennifer had two strikes on her. She turned on an inside pitch and ripped it down the left-field line. At that point we're just hoping for a single to get back in the game. Instead we took the lead."
Central bounced back in good fashion from the Farmingdale loss as well, topping Freeport 10-5. Guarneri, who leads the team with a .548 batting average and enjoyed a stretch of 11 consecutive hits, went 4-for-4 with two RBI. Futterman had three hits and four RBI and Ruderman had three hits and two RBI.
Guarneri has started every game on the mound and has been more than solid, losing only to Calhoun twice in addition to Farmingdale. "Katie's doing a great job and when her pitches are down, she's tough to hit," Riccio said.
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