Miller Place softball's Delaney Schleider hits sacrifice fly in 13th inning to defeat Kings Park
Miller Place’s Delaney Schleider at-bat during a softball game against Kings Park on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at Miller Place High School. Credit: Kathy M Helgeson
It was a rematch of last year’s Suffolk Class A softball final with the League V title on the line.
Miller Place and Kings Park fit the bill, and then some.
As much as Delaney Schleider would have liked to play a few more innings, she couldn’t pass up a golden opportunity to send the Miller Place crowd home happy.
Schleider drove in Brooke Borkowski with a sacrifice fly to rightfield in the 13th inning to give the Panthers a walk-off 4-3 win over Kings Park on Thursday.
Miller Place (16-3, 13-1) claimed its third straight league title.
“That was as good of a softball game as I’ve been a part of,” Miller Place coach Matt Timmons said. “Kings Park and Stella Roosa deserve all the credit in the world.”
Miller Place scored a run on Borkowski’s perfectly placed squeeze bunt in the fifth. On the first pitch of the top of the seventh, Avery Van Schuyler launched a home run to leftfield to tie the score at 1.
Then Miller Place sophomore Tiffany Clasen and Kings Park freshman Roosa buckled down in the circle. Even when each team started the 10th inning with a runner on second, neither pitcher budged.
Clasen was assisted by a 9-6-5 double play initiated by Brooke Pepe’s diving grab in rightfield and facilitated by her relay with shortstop Laney Vomero and third baseman Sadie Bryant, doubling up a runner to end the 10th.
“Coach Timmons tells us all the time, ‘Little things aren’t [little],’ ” Schleider said. “That was one of those moments.”
When Kings Park scored a run in the 11th and 12th innings, the Panthers were there to match. Clasen worked a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 13th to set the stage for Vomero’s infield single, which moved Borkowski to third for Schleider’s walk-off.
Clasen struck out six and allowed one earned run and 10 hits in 13 innings. She threw 140 pitches and recorded her 100th career strikeout.
“I think I could go another 13 innings if I needed to,” Clasen said with a laugh. “I’ve just learned to trust the seven behind me. Brooke Pepe, Laney . . . it felt like everyone made an amazing play today.”
“Getting to sit back there, call pitches and watch her strike people out, I can feel what she’s feeling,” said Schleider, a catcher. “When things go bad, it’s very easy to calm her down.”
Schleider went 3-for-5 with a triple and two RBIs, Kelsey Hoffmann had an RBI single and Annabella Filomeno went 2-for-4 with a run for the reigning state Class A champions.
Roosa struck out 18 and allowed one earned run and nine hits in 12 1⁄3 innings for Kings Park (15-3, 12-2). Katherine Krayewski went 2-for-4 with a double and a run and Van Schuyler was 3-for-5 with two RBIs.
Kings Park’s 4-1 win on April 21 is Miller Place’s only loss to a Suffolk opponent this season.
“To see them again and play a great game like that is a great advantage to keep our skill level and competitiveness up to par right before playoffs,” Vomero said.
Said Timmons: “That was a heavyweight battle, and to think that we could potentially see this game two or three more times in the playoffs is exciting for Suffolk County softball.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
