Kate Conklin leads North Shore softball's victory over Wheatley

Kate Conklin is an old-school hitter.

The senior catcher doesn’t chase pitches and she doesn’t swing for the fences. She aims to hit line drives and find ways to get on base.

Conklin did just that, lining an RBI single up the middle in the second inning of North Shore’s 6-3 road win over Wheatley in Nassau Conference IV softball Tuesday afternoon.

“I know it’s not my part on the team to hit a home run,” said Conklin, who went 1-for-3 with two walks. “My job is to get base hits and drive runners in. I try to hit the ball up the middle as much as possible.”

The single plated Phylicia Cangemi, who preceded Conklin with an RBI double, and gave North Shore a 2-0 lead.

Louisa Ludmar added some cushion by scoring Adriana Porcaro on a sacrifice groundout for a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

Grace Ryan cruised through the first three innings in the circle for North Shore, but she was in a bases loaded jam with no outs in the bottom of the fourth.

Following a mound visit, Ryan struck out the next two batters before inducing a weak ground ball down the third baseline. Natalie Gaeta collected it and flipped it to Conklin just in time for the final out of the inning.

“As the catcher, I can see the whole field and it seemed like it was in the team’s best interest to come home,” Conklin said. “It was as close as it could be.”

Ryan struck out seven batters in seven innings, relying heavily on her changeup to get swinging strikes.  

“We throw it every day in practice and try to mix it in whenever we can,” the sophomore said. “I think it’s a good pitch to throw in an 0-and-2 count to throw off the batter’s timing.”

Lia Arduini and Angie Krimitsos each hit an RBI double for Wheatley (2-2, 4-3).

North Shore (2-2, 2-2) constantly put together quality at-bats, including Porcaro who walked twice and hit the ball hard in her other three plate appearances. In the sixth, she smoked a line drive right at second baseman Dylan Kaufman for an out. Two batters later, Jolie Waiksnis lined a single to rightfield to score Ryan for a 5-0 lead.

“We’re working hard to develop a hitter’s mentality,” coach Chris Demarzo said. “No matter who the pitcher is or what speed she throws, we’re in there to hit the ball hard. It’s not going to work out all the time, but that’s the mentality we’re developing.”