Kings Park falls in state Class A final

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. -- The Kings Park chapter of Lindsay Taylor's softball career ended 150 miles east of where the next chapter is set to begin.

The five-year career of the Syracuse-bound pitcher, and the most successful season in Kingsmen history, came to an end Saturday as Kings Park fell, 1-0, to Pittsford Mendon in the state Class A final at Morse Athletic Complex in Queensbury.

No stranger to throwing no-hitters herself, Taylor and Kings Park found themselves on the wrong side of one as Brittany Grage struck out 12 and held Kings Park hitless for her second no-hitter of the day. Taylor represented the team's last hope in the bottom of the seventh but struck out swinging to end the game.

Not even coming up one run short of a state title could overshadow the best season in program history for Kings Park (24-3), which captured its first county and Long Island championships.

"We did something that nobody thought we could do," Taylor said. "First game of the season, we lost to Deer Park, 16-1, and now we are at the state championship. Even though we didn't win, it's still amazing."

With the game scoreless in the top of the third inning, Nicole Torlincasi was unable to make a full-extension diving catch on a popped-up bunt that put runners on first and second with one out. Grage followed with an RBI single to score Erin Lyons, who just eluded the tag by catcher Ariana Ambrosio after a perfect throw from rightfield by Jessica LoBianco.

Grage drilled LoBianco in the helmet to lead off the top of the fourth inning, giving Kings Park its only baserunner of the game. After a bunt by Nicole Brieva, LoBianco rounded second and took off for third with nobody covering, before momentarily hesitating and then continuing to third, where she was thrown out.

"I was going to go to third and then I saw the leftfielder come in and I didn't think I had a chance to make it," LoBianco said. "I stopped and kind of slipped."

Taylor -- who allowed five hits and walked none in six innings -- closed her pitching career by striking out the side in the bottom of the sixth to finish with 11 strikeouts.

Earlier in the day, Kings Park advanced to the final with a 6-1 win over South Glens Falls, the top-ranked team in the state. Paige Julich hit a first-inning grand slam to give a four-run lead to a pitcher who has allowed more than two runs in a game only three times all season.

Taylor tossed a two-hitter, walked one, struck out eight and didn't allow a hit until Alexa Toole singled up the middle with two outs in the sixth and later came around to score on a wild pitch.

Rachel Hugues scored from second on an error in the second and LoBianco, who went 2-for-2 with a walk, added an RBI double to deep left in the fourth.

As the only seniors on the team, the Binghamton-bound LoBianco and Oneonta-bound Brieva joined Taylor to lead a young team to unprecedented, and unexpected, heights this season.

"We didn't have any idea about what kind of season this was going to be," Brieva said. "We all really complement each other and we became a team this year. Just getting this far is absolutely amazing. I'm so proud of everyone."