Kellenberg stays unbeaten, tops St. Dominic's
Kellenberg's Stephanie Staiano #12, drives the pitch through the infield for a hit against St. Dominic. (April 21, 2012) Credit: GEORGE A. FAELLA
The Kellenberg softball team has become the Girls on Fire.
With their deep pitching and balanced lineup, the Firebirds have been so hot no team has been able to touch them. The firestorm continued Saturday as they remained unbeaten in CHSAA with a dominant 11-0 win over St. Dominic's in five innings at the Charles Wang Center in Muttontown.
"We're as good, if not better, than last year," said catcher Allie Pisciotta, the reigning CHSAA Player of the Year who led Kellenberg to a league title last year.
Krista King ignited the spark Saturday on the very first pitch of the game. With the outfielders playing shallow, the sophomore second baseman drilled a pitch to right-centerfield that rolled all the way to the wall. She motored around the bases for the first homer of her career.
"Usually, I don't swing away at first," King said. "But they brought everyone in so I just swung as hard as I could."
King went 2-for-2 with three runs scored to set the table for the big bats that follow. That includes shortstop Amanda Crimarco, who drove a liner to the wall in left for a two-run double in the first inning to make it 3-0 then doubled in the second to drive in two more runs for a commanding 9-0 lead.
"There's not a dead spot in our lineup," Crimarco said. "We have hitters throughout the whole thing. Whoever is out there, we're confident they'll get a hit."
There were plenty of hits Saturday, including a two-run single by Allie Mancini and a deep RBI-double by Susan Pardo during a six-run second inning. Crimarco finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs and Pisciotta went 2-for-2 with three runs scored.
Sabrina DeAngelis -- who tossed 41/3 innings, allowing one hit and two walks with seven strikeouts -- didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning when Taylor Lubrano poked a one-out single into rightfield. As one of three starting pitchers in the rotation, DeAngelis helped show that hitters never really know what's coming out of the Kellenberg circle.
"We all have a different style of pitching so I think it throws hitters off sometimes," she said. "It's a plus for us."
Kellenberg (12-0) was on short rest, coming off a 1-0 win over Our Lady of Mercy on Friday night at Hofstra Softball Stadium. That game honored former Athletic Director Ed Solosky, who passed away in a car accident in February at the age of 48, and raised nearly $6,500 for the Solosky Memorial Children's Fund.
The benefit game was unusually close for a team that has cruised through league play, winning by an average of 6.5 runs per game, and has state title potential.
"Step one is not to worry about a state title," Kellenberg coach Ken Conrade said. "We worry about our next game, which is St. Anthony's on Monday, and on executing and getting better. We talk about getting better by one percent each day."
That's what fuels the Girls on Fire.
