East Islip softball's Marisa Renganeschi drives home winning run in sixth inning of Suffolk Class AA final
East Islip players pose for a photo after winning the Suffolk Class AA softball finals against Westhampton Beach on Saturday, May 30, 2026 in Bellport. Credit: Kelvin Loarca
The table was set for Marisa Renganeschi.
Sophia Corso hit a leadoff double and Krystiana Quiceno laid down a perfect bunt for a single, advancing Corso to third.
“I had to bring that run in,” Renganeschi said. “I just had to do it for my team because they always do it for me.”
With two strikes, Renganeschi sent a fly ball to rightfield, plenty deep to plate Corso. The junior’s sacrifice fly drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth of No. 2 East Islip’s 7-6 win over No. 1 Westhampton in the Suffolk Class AA softball final Saturday at Martha Avenue Park.
Westhampton’s Kayla Blair hit a double to start the top of the seventh and advanced to third on Michaela Hertwig’s groundout. With the tying run on third and one out, sophomore pitcher Cate Ropiak buckled down. She picked up a strikeout and induced a groundball to Renganeschi at second for the final out, securing East Islip’s second straight Suffolk AA title.
East Islip (16-5) will face the winner of Calhoun/MacArthur in the Long Island championship game at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 6 at Martha Avenue.
“These girls are tough,” coach Jason McGowan said. “We’ve had more adversity than any team I’ve ever coached. But these kids have been here the last three years. They’re resilient. I know how Ropiak is built. We’re up one at the end. It doesn’t matter how the rest of the game went, I know she’ll get it done when it’s needed.”
After Lexi Kneisel drove in Corso on a two-out single in the fourth, Kayla Varga hit a line drive down the rightfield line and looked to have an RBI double. But it was ruled a foul ball after a discussion, sending Varga back to the plate.
“I wanted to do more damage,” Varga said. “One run is great, but you can always do more.”
She launched the next pitch she saw over the centerfield fence to take a 6-2 lead.
Grace Gevinski drove in Reilly Maloney and Blair on a two-out single to cap a four-run fifth inning and tie the score at 6 for Westhampton.
“They’re such a scrappy team,” Renganeschi said. “It’s like nothing is ever enough against them.”
Blair went 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs and Katie Burke and Addison Celi each had two hits and a run scored for Westhampton (17-7).
“This is a great group of girls. They gave it all they had and fought until the end,” coach Jeff Doroski said. “A lot of people probably thought East Islip would roll to another title, but we gave them everything they could handle. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
