By TONY BELLISSIMO
Coach John Messina was confident the Lady Sailors would represent themselves well in the tournament, but not even he could have predicted last week’s storybook ending at Mitchel Athletic Complex, when Oceanside captured its first county title since 1996 by sweeping Carey in the best-of-three championship series.
Senior pitcher Alexandra Domanico, who fired a three-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory in Game 1, got plenty of support in a 7-4 win in Game 2 and also helped her own cause by driving in a pair of runs. Oceanside advanced to face West Babylon in the Long Island Class AA final on June 10 at Mitchel.
“We’ve had an unbelievable run,” Messina said. “We didn’t enter the playoffs on a high note, but the girls knew what they were capable of and rose to the occasion. It hasn’t quite sunk in that we’re county champs, but it sounds great. I’m so darn proud of them.”
Domanico, who split the pitching duties most of the year with junior Gillian Davidoff, got the nod for Game 2 after allowing only three singles in Game 1. She gave up her first run in 19 innings when Carey’s Jamie Spanopoulos smacked a two-run single in the top of the third to make it 2-2. “I just had to go with my gut,” Messina said of the decision to start Domanico and keep Davidoff at third base. “I didn’t want to change anything that was working for us.”
Davidoff had four assists in the series clincher and put the Lady Sailors (16-7 overall) up for good in the bottom of the third inning when she drove a pitch from Patti Callahan into the right-centerfield gap for a home run and a 3-2 advantage. “It’s such a good feeling,” Davidoff said. “We’ve been working so hard all season long. Even when we didn’t have practice, we all got together and went to the batting cages. When I was a freshman, I knew we’d make it to the finals one day. I’m so happy we were able to go all the way.”
A run-scoring single by Domanico and a bases-loaded walk to junior Jessica Suppa in the fifth stretched Oceanside’s lead to 5-2. Suppa followed with a crucial defensive play in the top of the sixth, throwing out Katie Mirabile to complete a double play after Carey scored once to pull within two runs. “They were aggressive on the bases, but we did the right thing with the ball to get outs in big spots,” Messina said.
Oceanside added two insurance runs in the sixth on an RBI single by senior catcher Ali Wigand and a sacrifice fly by Domanico. Freshman Alexa Katz had two outfield assists in the top of the seventh.
“In the playoffs we’ve gotten great pitching and defense along with timely hitting,” Messina explained. “We’ve got a deep lineup. I know we faced strong pitchers, but late in the season we went through a stretch of 22 innings without a run. It wasn’t exactly how you want to go into the playoffs.”
The road to the finals
After squeaking past Mepham, 2-1, in the quarterfinals, Oceanside’s bats came alive and, along with Domanico, led a stunning 5-0 upset of top-seeded East Meadow in the semifinals on May 23.
Back-to-back two-run singles by junior Caralee Keppler and sophomore Samantha Ray with two out highlighted a five-run outburst in the top of the second inning. Domanico, who was on the losing side of a 6-0 decision to the Conference AA-I champion Lady Jets earlier in the month, scattered six hits, walked three and struck out two while working out of jams in the first and sixth innings. East Meadow loaded the bases in the first but Domanico got Lisa Santoro to ground into a fielder’s choice to Davidoff at third. The Lady Jets went down in order in the second, fourth and fifth innings and had a mild threat doused in the sixth when Domanico forced Santoro to pop out to Ray at shortstop with runners on first and second.
“We had to play a perfect game to beat East Meadow,” said Messina, “and we did.”
Comments about this story? TBellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
