Riverhead softball team bows in extra innings at LI championship
The Riverhead High School varsity softball team’s season came to an end Friday, June 6, in the Class AAA Long Island championship.
The game at SUNY Farmingdale against Massapequa was decided by a final score of 2-1 on walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning. It was a bittersweet end to the most winning team in Riverhead softball history.
As she has done all of her career, Mya Marelli put together another elite performance at the pitcher’s circle, throwing all eight innings. She kept Massapequa at bay the whole game and only surrendered one run while striking out nine before heading into extra innings. She just couldn’t find the support as Riverhead’s bats went cold on Friday.
After Massapequa (21-6) scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the third inning, Riverhead (20-4) instantly had a response. Marelli was hit by a pitch to get on base, and then Bella D’Andrea knocked a single past the third baseman to give the Blue Waves two runners on base with one out. Sophia Viola tied it up with a hard-hit single right up the middle. Though Riverhead seemingly had the momentum in that moment, that was the final run they were able to score the rest of the game.
Massapequa, a perennial powerhouse and a team full of seniors that have been through moments like this before, kept the pressure on inning after inning, forcing Marelli into making pitches with her back to the wall. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning and only one out, Marelli struck out the following Massapequa player and got the final batter of the inning to flyout to end the threat.
“Mya will likely go down as the greatest varsity softball player to come through Riverhead,” Riverhead head coach Rich Vlacci Jr. said. “She put us in a position to win the biggest game the program has ever played in. Can’t ask for anything more from our ace.”
With a runner on third again in the fifth inning, Marelli came up with another strikeout to keep the score tied at 1-1. Tough as nails all day long, the senior lefty gave everything she had in her surgically repaired arm. She refused to come out of the game at any point. Her fellow senior Shay Bealey came up with a run-saving catch at second base to end the sixth inning after Massapequa again had runners on second and third.
“This group of seniors have made a huge impact on this program,” Vlacci said. “They have created a culture that prides itself on work ethic, family and success. They will be extremely missed, but the leadership they displayed will continue to impact those that come after them.”
Massapequa had the luxury of being the home team, so the pressure was on Riverhead every bottom inning to hold the score the way it is. And in the bottom of the eighth, Massapequa finally broke through. A bloop hit over first base spun off into the fence line and turned into a triple with two outs on the board. Massapequa’s Annalisa Kohn then walked-off the game with a single to the right side.
And Riverhead’s record-breaking season suddenly came to an end. They had won 15 games in a row heading into the Long Island championship game. They won their first Suffolk County crown in school history after going undefeated in the Section XI Class AAA bracket. What these girls accomplished will forever be remembered.
“They say all good things must come to an end,” Vlacci said. “However, great things will last forever. What they did was nothing short of amazing. They inspired a whole generation of young girls who looked up to them like superheroes. They made history. These girls battled year-round and had incredible moment after incredible moment. This season is going to be one we talk about for a long time.”
