Massapequa International drops Little League Softball World Series regional opener, plays elimination game Monday
Members of the Massapequa International Little League softball team listen to manager Joe Solitto on Saturday in Bristol, Conn. Credit: Douglas Healey
The Massapequa International 12-and-under softball team is down to its final strike in Bristol, Connecticut.
Massapequa lost to Minersville (Pennsylvania), 10-2, in the first round of the Little League Softball World Series Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament on Saturday.
Minersville will face Delmar (Maryland) on Sunday in the winner’s bracket in the double-elimination tournament.
Massapequa will face the loser of Sunday’s game between Toms River (New Jersey) and Middletown-Odessa-Townsend (Delaware) in an elimination game at 7 p.m. on Monday.
“We’ve been here before, we’re very comfortable where we are and I’m very confident in these girls,” Massapequa manager Joe Sollitto said. “Lots of smiles. Our girls are in a great space right now, and we’re looking forward to Monday night.”
The loss came despite valiant efforts by righthander Ruby Ponticello, second baseman Sophia Nislow and leftfielder Kate Pignetti.
Ponticello struck out seven in 3 2⁄3 innings of relief. Nislow went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and a run scored out of the leadoff spot. Pignetti hit an inside-the-park home run.
Nislow put the first pitch of the game in play and legged out an infield single before stealing second base. Two batters later, when third baseman Giuliana Cretty grounded out to second, Nislow rounded third and dashed toward the plate.
The throw got there in time, but an elusive slide allowed Nislow to evade the tag and slap the plate with her left hand for the game’s first run.
In the fourth, she worked a 12-pitch at-bat, fouling off nine straight pitches, before reaching on a single and stealing second.
Minersville responded to Nislow’s first-inning run with four of its own in the bottom of the first. That’s when Ponticello came on in relief.
She retired nine of the first 10 batters she faced — including each of the first seven — allowing no runs or hits, walking one and striking out seven.
She also made a heads-up defensive play after throwing a wild pitch in the first inning, covering the plate and recording the out.
Minersville pulled away with five runs in the fourth to make it 9-1. The first four runs came with one out in the frame before pouring rain forced a delay of just over two hours.
Pignetti led off the fifth with an inside-the-park home run to leftfield for Massapequa, cutting the deficit to 9-2.
“No surprise with Nislow; she hates to lose more than she loves to win,” Sollitto said. “As for Ruby, she’s so battle-tested and calm, she handles herself with such poise . . . To touch on Kate Pignetti: awesome. Not surprised at all that she hit a home run today.”
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
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