Tiffany Clasen leads Miller Place to Suffolk Class A softball crown
Miller Place celebrates after defeating Kings Park in Game 2 of the Suffolk Class A finals at Martha Avenue Park on Sunday. Credit: Errol Anderson
Miller Place needed a championship response.
The Panthers watched Kings Park senior Emily Hofmayer circle the bases in the second inning with her second home run and fifth RBI of Sunday’s Suffolk Class A softball championship game.
“Kings Park really knocked us down early, but this is not the type of team that’s just going to roll over and die,” Miller Place senior Brooke Borkowski said.
By the time Tiffany Clasen stepped back in the circle in the top of the third inning, Miller Place had the lead.
An eight-run second inning propelled the top-seeded Panthers to an 8-6 win over No. 2 Kings Park and delivered a third straight county title to Miller Place at Martha Avenue Park.
A two-out walk drawn by Brooke Pepe loaded the bases for Clasen, who lined a two-run single to leftfield and cut Kings Park’s lead to 6-2. The swing also passed the baton to the top of Miller Place’s lineup.
“That at-bat changed the momentum of the game completely,” Borkowski said. “That was the loudest we’ve ever been.”
Laney Vomero followed with an RBI double and Borkowski singled home two runs and scored the tying run on an error. After Delaney Schleider walked, Breya Kesler dunked a go-ahead RBI single into leftfield. Kesler scored the final run of the rally when Annabella Filomeno walked with the bases loaded.
Clasen shook off Kings Park’s early ambush, striking out four and allowing three hits in the final five innings.
“In the second inning, I was talking to [former Miller Place pitcher] Amelia DeRosa and she calmed me down,” Clasen said. “Then I smacked the ball to leftfield and scored some runs, and all of a sudden, everybody started hitting. That got me amped up.”
Kings Park finished 18-5.
Miller Place (20-4) will look for its third straight Long Island title in a matchup with Wantagh at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Martha Avenue.
“There is so much leadership on this team,” coach Matt Timmons said. “When I walked in in 2021, I was given an unbelievable group, led by Amelia DeRosa, that embraced players like Laney Vomero when they were in seventh grade. Now Laney is passing those leadership qualities on to the younger girls.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
