Thea, Bauman propel Bellmore JFK in ninth

In the battle of Kennedy versus Kennedy, it wasn't a moon shot that got the job done, but a ninth-inning single to left.

"I'd been up two previous times with runners on base and had failed to score them," Bellmore JFK's Steph Bauman said. "I wanted to redeem myself."

Bauman's one-out hit scored Carly Thea from third with the go-ahead run, and Gabriella Calia pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth as Bellmore beat Plainview JFK, 4-3, Tuesday in Conference AA-II softball.

Thea, who has a full scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, was 3-for-3 with a home run, two doubles, two walks, three runs and an RBI. Heather Hulkower was 2-for-5 with a double and Samantha Finkel went 3-for-5 with an RBI for Bellmore (8-3). Traci Lichtenstein was 3-for-4 with a double, RBI and run and Katie Rutcofsky struck out 14 for Plainview (7-4).

Thea led off the ninth with a hustle double, aided by a misplay in the outfield.

"I saw the leftfielder kind of staggering for the ball," Thea said. "So as she came in, she kind of overlapped it a little bit, and I saw that and thought, 'I'm just going to go for it.' "

She slid in ahead of the tag, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Bauman's first hit of the day.

SEE PHOTOSBellmore JFK 4, Plainview JFK 3

But Bellmore even having the opportunity to win was a matter of perseverance.

After Thea hit an inside-the-park home run in the first, the Bellmore bats were silent as Plainview built a 3-1 lead.

Rutcofsky struck out the first batter in the seventh, putting the Hawks two outs away from victory. But Jamie Demmett reached on an error and Thea walked to put the tying runs on base. Hulkower doubled to left on a ball that would have scored both runs; however, it rolled onto a concrete sidewalk off the field of play and the umpires called it a dead ball. Only one run scored.

"We have to be focused, because what's been called has been called and we can't do anything about it," Finkel said. "We just have to try the best we can and hopefully, it'll work out."

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After a strikeout, Finkel stepped to the plate and knocked a single to left, scoring Thea with the tying run.

"It was a very fast-moving game and we kept talking about that," Thea said. "It didn't even feel like nine innings. But we always persevere; we always keep it going."