Sports

Softball: Wildcats reach end of road in Mount Sinai

Shoreham-Wading River’s Brittany Mahan connecting on a pitch from Mount Sinai’s Holly Drasser. (Credit: Garret Meade)
Shoreham-Wading River’s Brittany Mahan connecting on a pitch from Mount Sinai’s Holly Drasser. (Credit: Garret Meade)

MUSTANGS 13, WILDCATS 0 (5 INNINGS)

What will the Shoreham-Wading River High School softball coach, Christina Shiffman, recall when she looks back on her team’s recently concluded season?

“Honestly, I’m remembering how great they can look in one moment, you know,” she said. “Sometimes I’m in awe at some of the plays that they make.”

And then there were other times, like their final game on Tuesday, when the Wildcats didn’t play as well as that. Although the Wildcats have had their good moments this season, they haven’t had enough of them to earn a place in the playoffs. Their end came with a 13-0 loss at Mount Sinai. Holly Drasser tossed a four-hit shutout and the Wildcats didn’t make their life any easier by committing five errors.

Emily Solomos brought the game to an early end when she drove a two-run homer over the left-field fence with two outs in the fifth inning. The game was stopped because of the mercy rule.

Those were the third and fourth runs of the day driven in by Solomos, who went 3 for 4 and scored three runs. She also stroked a two-run single in the third.

Jessica Parente delivered a two-run double into the left-center-field gap in the fifth.

Three of Shoreham’s hits came from Hailey Tilton. “I knew it was the last game,” she said. “I wanted to go out with a bang.”

It was a scoreless game through the first two and a half innings as both sides squandered scoring opportunities by leaving runners on base.

Then Mount Sinai’s potent bats went to work. The Mustangs (16-4, 16-4 Suffolk County League IV), who will enter the playoffs having won 15 of their last 16 games, put up five runs in the third and then four each in the fourth and the fifth.

The Mustangs, who honored their four seniors in a ceremony before their final regular-season game, showed their ability to hit in the clutch. They hit 8 for 18 with runners in scoring position. All four of their fourth-inning runs were plated with two outs.

Maria Pellarin knocked in three runs, two of them on a single she bounced into left field in the fourth.

Five seniors played their last game for the Wildcats (7-13, 7-13): Rachel Aspesi, Alexis Biemer, Jade Joannou, Brittany Mahan and Stevie Micheli.

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