Jamie Gould tosses game-sealing strikeout for Northport softball to beat Bay Shore
Jamie Gould of Northport reacts after throwing the last batter out in a win for Northport against Bay Shore during a Suffolk softball game on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Northport was playing the game every softball team hopes to. It played six errorless innings in the field. It had been deft on the bases, taking advantage of opportunities given. And pitcher Jamie Gould had been a rock in battling Bay Shore’s formidable lineup.
But now in the seventh inning with two outs, everything was going sideways on the Tigers. An error and a single by the Marauders’ Emily Wolfe brought to bat No. 3 hitter Tiffany Mendez as the go-ahead run. And Mendez had been the junior righthander’s biggest problem all game, drawing a pair of walks and battling through a seven-pitch at-bat for a sacrifice fly.
Gould’s pitch count was nearing 120 and she could still feel the taxing 25-pitch fifth inning. It was time to dig deep for something extra.
Gould did and found it to get a called third strike and finish off the 4-2 Suffolk II victory for the host Tigers.
“She always finds a way to pitch through the tough stuff,” catcher Alexa Elliott said.
“I have a lot of trust in Alexa and that gives me the confidence,” Gould said.
Digging deep is becoming a theme for Northport in the season’s early going. It had been behind the proverbial eight-ball since dropping four of its first five. Now the Tigers (3-4, 3-3) have back-to-back wins.
“A slow start, but now I feel like they’re getting better with every game,” Northport coach Kim Michaluk said.
Bay Shore (5-4, 3-4) opened the first with Erin Wolfe’s triple to right center and Emily Wolfe’s RBI safety squeeze bunt. Gould didn’t allow another hit until the seventh – and stranded six of seven free passes she issued – and the Tigers assembled a three-run rally in the fourth to take the lead for good.
There, Elliott came to bat with runners at first and second and laced a single to left to bring in the tying run. The runners moved up on a throw home and the bid to cut down Elliott at second went deep into the outfield to allow both runners to score for a 3-1 lead.
“You have to compound things when there is a mistake,” Elliott said. “That’s exactly what a good team like Bay Shore would do to us, so just keep running until they get you out.”
The Marauders cut the margin to a run on the Mendez sac fly in the fifth, but Gould marooned the tying run on third with an inning-ending strikeout on her 25th pitch.
“We had the energy because we were ahead and that helped,” Gould said.
Jamie Anders gave the Tigers a big insurance run with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.
“We were making contact all inning and when it starts, it spreads,” Anders said.
“We’re back to .500 [in league play] and that’s where you have to be to be a playoff team,” Elliott said. “We’re taking steps in the right direction.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
