Blue Waves softball team claims county championship
For the first time in school history, the Riverhead varsity softball team won the Suffolk County championship with a 4-1 victory over Sachem North Saturday, May 31, at Martha Avenue Park in Bellport.
After coming so close in the past two seasons, Riverhead left no doubt who the best team in Suffolk County is by parading through the Suffolk County Class AAA playoff double-elimination bracket without a loss.
Both pitchers — Riverhead’s Mya Marelli and Sachem North’s Danielle Brennan — put up nothing but zeros on the scoreboard for the first four innings. But it was the senior lefty from Riverhead who shut the door and stopped all momentum when things got dicey.
After two bloop hits in the top of the second inning that put runners on second and third base with no outs, Marelli was tasked with keeping Sachem North off the board. A simple ball in play could have scored a run. Marelli wanted no part in giving up anything in that situation. She struck out the next three batters in order to end the threat.
The third inning saw more of the same after two walks. Sachem North laid down a sacrifice bunt to make it to second and third with one out on the board. The Flaming Arrow’s toughest hitters, batting third and fourth in the lineup, came to the plate with a chance to do damage. But again were stopped in their tracks, striking out to end the inning.
“I wanted to set the tone,” Marelli said. “Runners on base don’t mean much to me. All I have to do is keep them from scoring. I dug in deep, and I was glad I kept them off the board.”
Marelli pitched a complete game three-hitter, allowing no earned runs while striking out 15.
“There’s nobody better in tough situations,” Riverhead head coach Rich Vlacci Jr. said. “This is the Mya Marelli we’ve been waiting for. In the past two games, we’ve seen the best version of her, even from before the arm injury. Scary to say, but she’s better.”
Riverhead (19-3) finally broke through in the fifth inning to end the impasse. All they needed was a spark, and they got it when Amber Farruggia started off the inning with a double off the wall from the No. 9 spot in the batting order.
“It’s funny, because for some reason the fifth inning has been our inning all year long,” Vlacci said. “It’s like at that point in the game, we have it figured out, and we come alive and get comfortable.”
Farruggia was pinch-run for by Eden Greenwood who came around to score the first run of the game after a single up the middle by Madison Saladino. Jordyn Kwasna followed that with a double off the wall to plate another.
“I don’t know what it was but I think we were just tense up there before that inning,” Kwasna said. “Before we all walked up to the plate in the fifth we all took a big breath and tried to relax. I think it really made the difference.”
After taking the 2-0 lead, Marelli came up and battled at the plate, fouling off several pitches. Facing an 0-2 count, she socked a 2-run homerun to dead center that cleared the fence by 50 feet.
“Coach Vail pointed out something I was doing at the plate with my stride,” Marelli said. “Once I corrected that, I was able to get back on the ball. I just wanted to keep the inning going.”
The top of the sixth inning could have changed the outcome of the game. With two runners on and two outs for Sachem North, Shannon Forgione gave the ball a ride that seemed to be sailing over Kwasna’s head.
“I was tracking it well at first, but it just kept going and going,” Kwasna said. “At the last second, I knew it was going to be over my head, so I jumped up and threw my glove up.”
It landed right in the webbing to end the inning.
“It’s defensive plays like that that shape a championship team,” Vlacci said. “If that ball drops, it’s 4-2 and who knows how the game turns out afterward.”
All Sachem North could muster was a run in the seventh inning after a pair of errors. The game fittingly ended on a Marelli strikeout that sent a well-traveled Riverhead crowd in a frenzy. The Riverhead Fire Department escorted the team home on the Long Island Expressway to the Victory Bell in front of Pulaski Street Elementary school, where they continued a tradition started by the football team and rang the bell.
“This is something each of us have always dreamed of,” Kwasna said. “We always looked up to the older varsity girls when we were in little league. And now that we’re here, and we’ve made history by being the first to win a championship, I hope we inspire the younger girls watching us. Winning the county means the world, but we’re not done just yet.”
Riverhead will now play for the Long Island title. They will match up against Nassau County’s representative, Massapequa, on Friday, June 6, at SUNY Farmingdale for a 4:30 p.m. game start.
