Miller Place softball's Laney Vomero helps force deciding game in Suffolk Class A finals
Laney Vomero of Miller Place readies to swing at a pitch during the Suffolk Class A softball finals against Kings Park at Martha Avenue Park in Bellport on Saturday, May 30, 2026. Credit: Derrick Dingle
It was only a matter of time before Miller Place’s offense broke through.
In 27 innings against Kings Park this season, the Panthers scored five total runs.
Laney Vomero’s solo home run in the second inning highlighted No. 1 Miller Place’s barrage in a 9-1 win over No. 2 Kings Park in the final round of the Suffolk Class A double-elimination softball playoffs at Martha Avenue Park on Saturday.
It’s the first loss of the postseason for Kings Park (18-4), forcing a winner-take-all title game at 11 a.m. on Sunday at Martha Avenue.
“I think with more on the line being that this is the county championship and that if we lost today, we’re going home, it just lit the fire in us,” Vomero said. “One that we’re going to keep going until tomorrow.”
The Stony Brook commit’s blast gave the Panthers a 3-0 lead.
“I had two strikes and I was swinging at anything close,” Vomero said. “We had a low-ball approach, but I got a strike high in the zone and I had to swing. I got my hands up and took it.”
Kelsey Hoffmann of Miller Place celebrates a double at second base during the Suffolk Class A softball finals against Kings Park at Martha Avenue Park in Bellport on Saturday, May 30, 2026. Credit: Derrick Dingle
Miller Place scraped two runs across in the first inning on a fielder’s choice and a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded. In the fourth, the Panthers’ high-octane offense came to play.
Kelsey Hoffmann’s two-out double drove in Breya Kesler and Sadie Bryant to take a 6-0 lead. Vomero started a two-out rally with a single in the fifth and Brooke Borkowski was hit by a pitch. Delaney Schleider plated them both with a double down the left field line. Bryant tacked on an RBI single to make it 9-1.
Tiffany Clasen was efficient in the circle, allowing one run, five hits and three walks in a complete game. She did it without recording a strikeout.
“Sadie Bryant made so many good plays at third base,” Clasen said. “Kelsey Hoffmann at second base. Even if I don’t get strikeouts, it’s fine because the players behind me will make the plays.”
Kaylee Myung went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI double for Kings Park.
Schleider went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, Vomero went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and Borkowski added three runs scored.
Miller Place (19-4) has won the last two Suffolk A titles and won last year’s state championship. Tuesday’s loss to Kings Park sent the Panthers to the elimination bracket for the first time in the last three postseasons.
“It was a very big push in the back,” Schleider said. “You need to do this today, or else there’s nothing left after this. Collectively as a team, none of us are ready to end the season.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
