They haven’t lost back-to-back games this season and are undefeated at home. On April 24 against Smithtown East, the East Hampton High School softball team kept both streaks alive, winning 5-4 in extra innings.
“These girls, we’ve been doing it all year,” said Jason Menu, their head coach. “They never think they’re out of it. And yeah, once again, a freshman comes in clutch and locks it in.”
That freshman, Fallon Centalonza, drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth, sending Alexa Schaffer home for the walk-off win. Schaffer started things off with a two-run homer in the first inning to put Bonac up 2-0. She also hit an R.B.I. single in the third, sending Lydia Rowan home to bump up the lead to 3-0. Later that inning, Colleen McKee sent Schaffer home to put East Hampton up 4-0.
Smithtown East might have been down, but they were certainly not out, putting two runs on the board in the fourth inning on an R.B.I. single and a sac fly. In the fifth inning, one of the Bulls headed home on an overthrow at third base to make the score 4-3. They tied it up in the top of the seventh on an R.B.I. single, turning up the heat on the Bonackers.
“All year long, those girls — if you check their scores — they’ve been in it. They hang around,” Coach Menu said of Smithtown East. “They’re a great team. Coach is a gentleman. Great kids. They played hard. They always stay in their games. So we knew it was going to be tough.”
Izzy Briand pitched a complete game and wouldn’t let the blown lead become a loss. She struck out nine over the eight innings, making quick work of Smithtown East in the eighth with some help from Emily Hurtado, who made a difficult catch in the outfield, to set up Bonac for the win.
“Izzy’s tough and she’s a travel kid. She battles and goes against tough competition all the time. These are varsity hitters. They time it up. She’s throwing strikes, but she’s moving it along and she’s got that nice rise,” Menu said. “We got some pop-ups. And the defense has her back. Emily made that great catch in the outfield. Lydia made a great throw to home. We keep the run off the base and it’s a team effort.”
Taking little credit for herself, Centalonza agreed. “This is a team sport and it’s not all on one person, and we’re a good team so we can do it,” she said. “Izzy did a really nice job pitching, and Emily had a nice catch in the eighth inning to save us.”
The win improved East Hampton’s record to 8-3, and 7-2 in league play. Bonac’s next home game is May 1 at 4:30 p.m. against Harborfields.
