Shapiro, Miller lead East Meadow to final
East Meadow pitcher Kerrie Shapiro delivers to the plate against MacArthur in the Nassau County Softball Class AA semifinals. (May 19, 2011) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Same old East Meadow Jets, back in the championship game.
The defending Nassau Class AA champs exploded for two four-run innings, and their freshman pitcher, making her third start of the season, battled in a 9-6 win over No. 1 MacArthur Thursday in a Nassau semifinal at Mitchel Athletic Complex.
No. 4 East Meadow (10-6) will play No. 2 Farmingdale (12-5) at 4 p.m. on Monday at MAC in Game 1 of the best-of-three Class AA final.
"We had to come in here fighting for the game," Samantha Miller said.
East Meadow led in every inning, and if the overcast sky in Uniondale was often dark, the offensive fireworks made up for it.
Miller slid under the tag at home plate on a bases-loaded fielder's choice in the first to give East Meadow a 1-0 lead and then belted a two-out two-run inside-the-park home run in the fourth. A batter later, Jamie Laird duplicated the feat as the Jets took a 5-0 lead.
MacArthur (16-4) clawed back with four runs in the fourth, the last two coming on Briana Lombardo's bloop single to center. But Kerri Shapiro, who started just one regular-season game before leading East Meadow to victory in the quarterfinals, struck out the final three hitters to preserve the lead.
"I've put her in some tough situations before, and she's shown such great poise in the circle," coach Cindy McCarthy said.
The Jets gained some breathing room in a four-run fifth, capped by Danielle Cutuli's three-run triple. But a sacrifice fly and run-scoring error in the fifth put MacArthur within striking distance, and with a runner on first and one out in the seventh, East Meadow's Marisa San Antonio got to Kate McNamara's single quickly and rifled a highlight-reel throw to third, nabbing the lead runner.
"She's got a great arm," McCarthy said. "But she's also another freshman on this team that's just a great softball player."
"Our team is young," said Miller, one of only four seniors on the Jets. "But when we go out, we're going to battle."
Farmingdale advances. Isabella Corrao struck out 12 and benefited from a six-run first inning as the No. 2 Dalers won the other Class AA semifinal at MAC, 8-3, over No. 3 Massapequa (13-7).
"The offense set the tone, and Isabella shut them down," coach Laura Malone said. "It's tough for anybody to come back from that."
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