By TONY BELLISSIMO
The defending county champion Lady Falcons scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning against upset-minded Island Trees, providing sophomore pitcher Diana DiPiano with more than enough support. DiPiano scattered six hits, allowed no earned runs and struck out six in a 6-2 semifinal victory.
South, the No. 3 seed for the second consecutive season, takes on fourth-seeded Floral Park for the title. Weather permitting, the series was to open on Wednesday and continue on Thursday and Friday, if necessary, at Cantiague Park in Hicksville.
"It's going to be an interesting series," South coach Dom Fontana said. "We split with Floral Park during the regular season. They have two strong pitchers and I suspect the games will be low-scoring."
In Tuesday's win, all four runs in the third came with two out. DiPiano drove home sophomore Jessica Corea, who reached on an error and moved to second on a groundout. After a single by junior Ali Hertling, sophomore Caitlin Amitrano came though with a clutch two-run single. Senior Krista Siedlick and sophomore Tanya Goldman followed with singles, the second of which plated Amitrano.
"We were much more relaxed and confident after jumping on top," Fontana said. "Until we broke through, it was a 50-50 game. A lot of the favorites have gone down in this tournament and you can throw the seeds out the window when the game starts. It was a good sign when we put together a big inning like that."
The outburst helped take the edge off DiPiano, who allowed only one runner to reach third base until the sixth.
"The longer we went 0-0, the more of a chance they had to beat us," he added. "Island Trees is a very hard team to defend. They bunt, they slap and they steal. They put the ball in play and force you to make plays."
The Lady Bulldogs had runners on base in four of the first five innings, but they didn't break through until the sixth. South led 6-0 at the time Jen Grella and Erin Carroll scored on errors.
"I thought we played well defensively except for that one inning," Fontana said. "Those things happen, but we got out of it without too much damage."
The Lady Falcons pushed across a pair of runs in the fifth. Hertling scored all the way from first base after Amitrano's bunt was misplayed, and Amitrano came home on Goldman's infield grounder.
Island Trees had the tying run in the on-deck circle in its last at-bat, but DiPiano dug deep. With one out and runners on first and second, she fanned Lori Brennan for the second out and got Carroll on a grounder to Siedlick at second to end the game.
"I like our chances against anybody at this point," Fontana said. "We've got a lot of experience and we're very positive. We won eight games in a row, including three playoff games, and we've been here before."
