LaRosa scores winner for East Meadow
East Meadow's Dina LaRosa scores the winning run in the bottom of the 9th against MacArthur during the Class AA Finals. (May 24, 2012) Credit: Alan J. Schaefer
Forget a rock and a hard place. Dina LaRosa was stuck between third base and home . . . with a county championship hanging in the balance.
LaRosa was caught leading off third when Claire Travis laid down a safety-squeeze bunt with the score tied and one out in the bottom of the ninth. The ball trickled out in front of catcher Kristin Daly, who made the throw to third and sent LaRosa charging for home. But the throw to the plate was wild and LaRosa slid in safely to give No. 2 East Meadow a 3-2 win over No. 1 MacArthur in Game 2 of the Class AA county championship series Thursday at Mitchel Athletic Complex.
"I think I was too caught up in the moment to be nervous," LaRosa said. "I had to go for it. It was do or die."
East Meadow forced a deciding Game 3 at 11 a.m. Saturday at Mitchel, and a big reason is that history repeated itself with Madison West. On the one-year anniversary of West getting a huge hit in Game 2 of the county championship series, she came up with another huge hit in this Game 2 of the county championship series.
With her team trailing 2-0, two outs and runners at second and third in the sixth, West blooped an 0-and-2 pitch into shallow center to tie the score.
"We were up against the wall and had to win this one game," West said. "When we're in tough spots, I like to pick everyone back up."
Marisa San Antonio went 3-for-4 with a run scored.
MacArthur's Kristen Brown tossed 81/3 innings, allowing seven hits, a walk and two earned runs with seven strikeouts. Jena Cozza drilled an RBI triple to deep left-centerfield in the first inning to drive in Brown. Emily Lyons followed with a sacrifice fly to give MacArthur a 2-0 lead.
But that would be the only runs allowed by Kerri Shapiro, who gave up two hits, three walks and one earned run with three strikeouts.
"It shows that we are a team that fights," Shapiro said of the comeback win. "Even if you are the number one team and we are number two, we can still beat you."
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 17: Olympics a possibility for Long Beach wrestler? On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Newsday's Gregg Sarra talks with Long Beach wrestler Dunia Sibomana-Rodriguez about pursuing a third state title and possibly competing in the Olympics in 2028, plus Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 17: Olympics a possibility for Long Beach wrestler? On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Newsday's Gregg Sarra talks with Long Beach wrestler Dunia Sibomana-Rodriguez about pursuing a third state title and possibly competing in the Olympics in 2028, plus Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week.
