The Sachem East Flaming Arrows watched their season end this weekend when everything that could go wrong did in one terrible fifth inning.
Fairport defeated Sachem East 8-3 in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AAA semifinals at the Martha Avenue Recreational Park in Bellport on Friday afternoon.
The Arrows handed the ball to their outstanding starting pitcher Olivia DeRose with all the confidence in the world. DeRose was a standout all season, and many believe she was the best player on Long Island this year. DeRose came out of the box firing with a 1-2-3 inning to start the game, and the Arrows were set down in order in their half of the inning. With the help of a double play, DeRose had another clean inning, as did Fairport.
The third inning watched both teams lead off the inning with leadoff singles. DeRose shut that down by striking out the next two batters and ending with no runs. Sachem got on the board first when Gianna Prisco singled the other way and then went to third on a hustle play after a double play attempt. Caitlyn Wolfe squared to bunt and laid down a beauty scoring Prisco to break the scoreless tie. The inning had some controversy when there was a play at second base. The runner stole second and asked for time, but was tagged out when the umpire missed the time out.
Sachem was able to induce another double play after a leadoff single and Fairport pitcher Kailey Gardner forced the Arrows to ground out three times to end the 4th inning. Entering the 5th inning there was a calm in the crowd because DeRose was on her game. That all ended quickly.
The leadoff hitter walked after a full count, followed by Makayla Strack doubling to left. The game was tied and DeRose faced runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. She struck out the next batter, but Nicole Allen hit a frozen rope to right center for a triple. Lauryn Smith laid down a suicide squeeze to perfection and quickly Fairport was up 4-1.
The Sachem crowd was still loud and cheering with optimism when the unthinkable happened. What sounded like a gunshot off the bat ended up a screaming liner right into DeRose's upper thigh. DeRose crumbled to the ground in a heap, tried to get up quickly, but fell again and the field stood in silence. You could hear the faint cries from what had to be a very painful experience for the young hurler. As she limped off the field, with help from the trainer, all anyone could think about was her health, but they also could feel the game slipping away.
Isabella Moscatelli entered in an emergency relief situation and after a force out and a diving attempt that fell short, Fairport launched a double to left to make the score 8-1. The Arrows were caught stealing in their half of the inning to end any sort of comeback from their nightmarish inning. In the 6th with Angelina Cornand pitching for Sachem she was able to keep Fairport off the board, and in their half of the inning a leadoff was wasted as the Arrows couldn't get much going. The top of the 7th saw three ground outs, which sent the Arrows to the bottom of the 7th and their last chance.
The Arrows were up and cheering. DeRose, who now had a heavily bandaged leg, was leading her team on and the crowd was once again loud. That excitement became even more enthusiastic when Samantha Madigan led the inning off with an infield single between short and third. That was followed by Cameron Buckstein's single to first and Gianna Pirsco's ground out. Gianna Montes then roped a screaming two run double to cut the lead to 8-3 and you could feel the momentum shift.
Then the ump show took over. With momentum clearly on the Arrows side, and life left, there was over a 20 minute delay in the game. The umpires had a conference, then another, then a conference with the coaches, then league officials came in. All of this still wasn't enough as a golf cart carrying yet another league official arrived and a decision was made. Montes was called out, the runs off the board and any hopes that Sachem had were dashed. The Arrows were able to tack on two runs when Cornand doubled to get those runs back but they would drop the game 8-3.
I asked the official afterwards what the ruling was and I was told "ineligible player batting". He did not want to elaborate. Sachem East ended the season 20-5.