Softball: Riverhead’s Falisi marks her return with 5 RBI

BLUE WAVES 12, FALCONS 11

In her first game back since injuring a tendon around her ankle last July, senior third baseman Stephanie Falisi made a memorable return for the Riverhead High School softball team on Monday.

Falisi rapped out three hits and drove in five runs to help the Blue Waves (4-4, 4-4) to a wild 12-11 Suffolk County League III win at Deer Park in a rain-drenched game.

Freshman right-hander Casey Plitt evened her record at 4-4 with a gutty performance after taking a ball off her shin in the sixth inning. Plitt helped her cause with three hits while driving in three runs, including a vital two-run triple in a six-run seventh inning that gave the visitors a 12-5 advantage as the rain came down at a steady pace.

The Blue Waves needed those runs because Deer Park (2-4, 2-4) scored six runs of its own in the bottom of the inning, leaving runners at first and third before Tony Santora grounded to first baseman Karla Vanston for the final out of the game.

With one out in the fourth inning, Riverhead center fielder Sarah Freeborn’s spectacular catch saved at least one run when she dashed in to the infield to snare Taylor Thomas’s pop fly. She then helped double up Ali Wiener on third base to end the game.

Shortstop Dani Napoli and Freeborn scored three runs apiece.