Little League softballers’ winning streak ends in finals

Throughout the Riverhead varsity girls undefeated softball season, head coach Rich Vlacci Jr. brought out a player from the Little Leagues to throw out the first pitch as a way of integrating the program from the top down. Many of those girls were from the 10-and-under softball allstar Little League World Series team that made it to the District 36 Championship last Wednesday at Stotzky Memorial Park in Riverhead. It was their time to shine.

“We spend most of our afternoons at the Riverhead varsity home games with a lot of these girls,” Riverhead Little League coach Courtney Schaudel said. “That includes the 10u and the 12u team and pretty much everybody from 14 and down was there watching them. They set an example for all the kids. They show up here on opening day. They do major clinics for the kids. Without the high school team, we wouldn’t be where we are now. Pretty amazing how they give back to the kids and now they have these role models.”

The Riverhead all-stars went a perfect 3-0 in pool play, defeating East Hampton, North Shore and North Patchogue. Their play earned them the No. 1 seed in the playoffs and they promptly and confidently upended North Patchogue 19-4 in the semifinals to make it into the championship game.

“These girls are amazing,” Schaudel said. “Best girls I’ve ever coached. Going undefeated through all of the pool play was really magical for the girls. You started to see the belief. Learning an entirely different style of game in the last three weeks and seeing them thrive has been amazing. There’s a bunch of new plays and a bunch of new rules to understand. The games are just totally different once the World Series starts from how we play during the year, and to their credit, they learned quickly.”

The championship against East Hampton proved to be a tight battle, as both teams struggled to put the bat on the ball. Riverhead’s Charlotte Doucette was electric from the pitcher’s circle, striking out 14 batters over the course of the game.

In the top of the 4th inning, Riverhead got thrown out at the plate in an attempt to tie the game at 2-2 after Nicole Bennett scored on a wild pitch earlier in the inning. Trailing 5-2 in the 6th and final inning of the game, the all-stars refused to go down without a fight. With two outs on the board, Calleigh Conlan worked a walk to get a potential rally started. Karolena Delia then followed up with another walk. Leah Eastwood, who scored a run earlier in the game, also walked to load the bases loaded. A walk to Harley Cannon would make it 5-3 but that’s as close as Riverhead got; their undefeated run ended in the championship game.

“I cannot be more proud of how they played today,” Schaudel said. “They’ve amazed everyone this season and they’re only going to get better. These girls love playing softball and I’m sure next year we’ll be right back here again.”