Massapequa International wins Mid-Atlantic Regional elimination game, advances to face Maryland in next round
Giuliana Cretty of Massapequa International hits a triple during a Mid-Atlantic Region game against Delaware on Monday in Bristol, Conn. Credit: Douglas Healey
The Massapequa International 12-and-under softball team's run in the Little League World Series Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament isn't over yet.
Massapequa defeated Middletown-Odessa-Townsend (Delaware), 4-3, in the first round of the loser’s bracket in Bristol, Connecticut on Monday night. Massapequa moves on to face Delmar (Maryland) in another elimination game at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
With the bases empty, two outs and the score tied at 3 in the top of the sixth inning, Milla Sollitto smoked a triple into the left-centerfield gap. Three pitches later, catcher Giuliana Cretty ripped a line drive into leftfield for a two-base error, scoring Sollitto with the eventual winning run.
“Honestly, with all the fans there, I just knew that I had to do my job, and I went in there thinking I could do it,” Cretty said. “I just wanted to hit it into the outfield and drive in a run. We fought so hard and really deserved that.”
The triple was Sollitto’s first hit of the tournament.
“It felt awesome.” Sollitto said. “I knew I was overdue … I’m very psyched. I’m very happy it went our way today.”
In the bottom half of the frame, righthander Ruby Ponticello stranded two baserunners with two strikeouts and a weak groundout to lock down the win. She finished with nine strikeouts and four hits allowed over six innings.
“I was actually really nervous, but I just had to review my mechanics and go with it,” Ponticello said. “This game gave me so much more confidence for the next game I’m going into, and I’m excited to see what we have next.”
Massapequa got the scoring started in the second inning when first baseman Ashley Larmann walked, stole second and scored after the throw caromed into the outfield.
Delaware responded with two runs in the bottom half to take a 2-1 lead, but Massapequa countered in the fourth inning. Second baseman Sophia Nislow blasted a leadoff triple into the left-centerfield gap and then scored on a groundout by Sollitto to tie the score. Cretty then crushed another triple to centerfield and scored on a wild pitch to take a 3-2 lead. Delaware tied the score in the fifth with an RBI bunt single by Grace Fleming, setting up the sixth-inning theatrics.
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
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