Nick Beebe sparks West Islip to Suffolk softball quarterfinal win

West Islip’s Nick Beebe is a dual threat. She either comes up with a clutch hit or makes a key play in the field.

Beebe hit a two-run double in the bottom of the third inning and made a few standout plays at shortstop to lead the home West Islip Lions (17-5) to a 4-0 win over Bellport (15-11) in a Suffolk Class AA softball quarterfinal elimination game on Saturday.

The sophomore, a righthanded hitter, opened the scoring and put the No. 4 Lions on the board with a two-run double to the opposite field, plating Allison Weston and Sophia Randazzo.

“I know this pitcher (Samantha Rieb) is good, and I know that she is one of the faster pitchers in the league, so I just went up trying to do my best and tried to hack the ball out,” Beebe said of her approach to hitting. “I swing so that it just kind of goes.”

After a 4-2 loss to No. 8 Longwood on Friday, the Lions showed more prowess at the plate against No. 16 Bellport.

On a full-count, first baseman Amanda Librizzi drove a solo home run over the left-centerfield wall in the bottom of the sixth inning, increasing West Islip’s lead to 3-0.

And the Lions would manufacture one final run. After a walk, Alex Michaluk advanced to second base, then stole third, before scoring on a two-out slap single from Weston for the 4-0 lead.

SEE PHOTOSSuffolk Class AA quarterfinal: West Islip vs. Bellport

“I was really proud with our bats, the way that we responded after the loss Friday,” coach Kourtney Proske said. “We were kind of flat in scoring runs, so we came out on fire, we came out on top, we put the pressure on.”

West Islip pitcher Jamison Lundie threw a complete game, striking out seven and walking none while scattering six hits. She also picked up her 175th strikeout of the season.

“I think we just were mentally focused and ready to go,” Proske said. “I talked to them before the game about coming out on top and scoring first, and if we did that, we knew Jamison would hold them down on the mound, so we were able to do that.”

Lundie had an offspeed approach, which worked with a swift defense behind her.

“We played them before, we know that they’re good hitters, especially the middle of their lineup,” Lundie said. “I tried to get a lot of them on the riseball, and jam them on the screwball so that nothing was going over or too far. I think I just got a lot of them chasing.”

The two Suffolk III teams faced each other twice, winning a game each. “It’s always been a good game against Bellport,” Proske said. “Samantha Rieb is a great pitcher, so we definitely had to battle, but we did well.”

“It feels good to beat a tough team and move onto harder teams, but we’ll get it,” Lundie said.