Patchogue-Medford softball's Pressley Hamilton hits walk-off single to beat Sachem East
Ahria Treschl, center, of Patchogue-Medford celebrates with teammates after crossing home plate during a Suffolk softball game against Sachem East on Tuesday in Medford. Credit: Kelvin Loarca
Pressley Hamilton bats cleanup for a reason.
Hamilton walked to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the seventh with the winning run on second and a league title on the line Tuesday.
The sophomore catcher jumped on the first pitch and lined a single to leftfield that drove in Ashley Trott and gave Patchogue-Medford a 4-3 walk-off win over visiting Sachem East in Suffolk League I softball.
“I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs in softball, and after being in a rut, it felt really good to get that last hit,” Hamilton said. “I finally feel like I was given the chance to show off what I can do.”
The Raiders led 2-1 in the top of the seventh, but Angelina Cornand’s two-out, two-run single gave Sachem East a 3-2 lead.
Lia Trimboli changed that on the first pitch of the bottom half of the inning, hitting
a home run to centerfield to tie the score at 3.
On Monday, Trimboli attended her grandfather Adriano Moscova’s funeral. Moscova died last Wednesday from lung cancer. Trimboli was emotional as she rounded third and crossed the plate.
“I felt like I had wings,” Trimboli said. “It reminded me that my nonno is still with me.”
It just so happened to be Patchogue-Medford’s Strikeout Cancer game, during which the Raiders collected donations of new blankets, hats, socks and items for small care packages to support CancerCare and New York Cancer Foundation. On the back of each Raiders’ jersey was the name of a loved one who has been impacted by cancer.
Trimboli’s jersey honored her uncle, Antonio Finazzo, who is battling prostate cancer. He threw out a ceremonial first pitch.
“It just feels like it was meant to be,” Trimboli said. “We’re playing for an important cause. It was like it was prewritten. We were just meant to win this game.”
Xiomara Llerena went 2-for-4 and drove in Cameron Buckstein on a single to give Sachem East (13-4, 13-4) a 1-0 lead in the fifth.
Julianna Lograsso drew a bases-loaded walk and Sophia Randazzo hit a sacrifice fly to give the Raiders the lead in the sixth. Ahria Treschl went 2-for-4 with a run, Cailyn Rose-Freaney went 2-for-4 and Arianna Kelly-Weihberg pitched a complete game to earn the win, which clinched at least a share of the League I title for Patchogue-Medford (16-3, 14-3).
A win in the Raiders’ regular-season finale against Half Hollow Hills on Thursday would clinch the outright title. Patchogue-Medford last won a league championship in 2006, when coach Alexa D’Onofrio was a freshman on the team.
“This has been the goal since I’ve been here with them,” D’Onofrio said. “We were third in 2023 and then second the last two years. We want to bring a league championship here for the first time in 20 years.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
