Lucy Olore leads Wantagh softball to first Nassau championship since 1990
Wantagh players hold their plaque and celebrate after winning the Nassau Class A softball championship over Seaford at Farmingdale State College on Thursday, May 28, 2026. Credit: Brittney Dietz
With Lucy Olore and Rylie Betz in the circle, runs are always at a premium when Wantagh and Seaford square off.
In each of the first four matchups between Wantagh and Seaford, the team that scored first, won.
Wantagh embraced a small ball approach, taking the runs any way they could get them in Game 3 of the Nassau Class A softball championship series.
After a leadoff walk, Megan Martone stole second and advanced to third on Hailey Kissinger’s sacrifice bunt. Martone scored on Scarlett Bartilucci’s squeeze bunt in the first inning of No. 1 Wantagh’s 3-0 win over No. 2 Seaford Thursday at Farmingdale State.
It’s Wantagh’s first county title since 1990.
“It feels amazing,” Martone said. “Especially after not going very far last year and working toward this all season. We’ve gone as far as we can go and we’re going to keep going. There’s no better feeling.”
Wantagh scored all three runs on squeeze bunts.
“We’re going to do whatever we’ve got to do to score, especially against someone as good as Rylie,” Wantagh coach Christine Moran said. “They executed very well.”
Olore came to the plate with one out and runners on second and third in the fifth. She said she had only bunted once this season prior to Thursday’s game. Moran offered her the choice to bunt or swing.
“I wanted to be sure that we were going to score the run and I was confident that I could get the bunt down,” Olore said.
She got it down a few feet in front of the plate, allowing Kissinger to score. Savannah Gandini followed with her own squeeze bunt to plate Emily Polarolo and give Wantagh a three-run cushion.
“I just felt a weight lifted off my shoulders,” Olore said. “I was happy with the one run. I’m very happy we scored three, but I felt like we would be fine with the one run.”
She’s not the only one who thought so.
“I have all the confidence in the world if we go up early with Lucy in the circle,” Moran said. “She has ice in her veins.”
Olore struck out three and allowed two hits and one walk in a complete game.
Wantagh (17-6) will face the winner of Kings Park/Miller Place in the Long Island championship game at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, at Martha Avenue Park.
Betz struck out six and allowed four hits for Seaford (13-10). The Vikings received an at-large bid in the state playoffs and will play the Section IV champion in a subregional at 4 p.m. on Tuesday in Binghamton.
“Playing in Conference I, it’s not always a smooth road,” Seaford coach Joe Nastasi said. “Sometimes you get punched in the face and it’s how you respond that is most important. This team has proven time and time again that they’re going to pull themselves back up and get to work.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
