Massapequa International drops Little League Softball World Series regional opener, plays elimination game Monday
Members of the Massapequa International Little League softball team listen to manager Joe Solitto on Saturday in Bristol, Conn. Credit: Douglas Healey
The Massapequa International 12-and-under softball team is down to its final strike in Bristol, Connecticut.
Massapequa lost to Minersville (Pennsylvania), 10-2, in the first round of the Little League Softball World Series Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament on Saturday. Minersville advances in the winner’s bracket, where it will face Delmar (Maryland) on Sunday. Massapequa will face the loser of Sunday’s game between Toms River (New Jersey) and Middletown-Odessa-Townsend (Delaware) in an elimination game at 7 p.m. on Monday.
“We’ve been here before, we’re very comfortable where we are and I’m very confident in these girls,” Massapequa manager Joe Sollitto said. “Lots of smiles. Our girls are in a great space right now, and we’re looking forward to Monday night.”
The loss came despite valiant efforts from righthander Ruby Ponticello and second baseman Sophia Nislow, who kept their team in it for the majority of the game. Nislow went 2-for-2 with two stolen bases and a run scored out of the leadoff spot. Ponticello struck out seven batters over 3 ⅔ innings of relief.
Nislow put the first pitch of the game in play and legged out an infield single before stealing second base. Two batters later, third baseman Giuliana Cretty grounded out to second base, and Nislow rounded third and dashed toward home plate.
The throw from the first baseman got there in time, but an elusive slide allowed Nislow to evade the tag and slap the plate with her left hand for the game’s first run. In the fourth inning, she worked a 12-pitch at-bat, fouling off nine straight pitches before singling, followed by another steal.
However, Minersville responded immediately to Nislow’s first-inning run with four of its own in the bottom of the first. That is when Ponticello came in relief.
Ponticello retired nine of the first 10 batters she faced — including each of the first seven — allowing no hits or runs while striking out seven and walking only one. She also made a heads-up defensive play after throwing a wild pitch in the first inning, as the runner on third base tried catching the defense off guard after the ball had already been recovered, but Ponticello got to the plate and tagged her out.
Ultimately, Minersville pulled away with five runs in the fourth inning, making it 9-1. The first four runs came with one out in the frame before pouring rain forced a delay for just over two hours.
Leftfielder Kate Pignetti led off the fifth inning with an inside-the-park home run to leftfield for Massapequa, cutting the deficit to 9-2.
“No surprise with Nislow; she hates to lose more than she loves to win,” Sollitto said. “As for Ruby, she’s so battle-tested and calm, she handles herself with such poise … To touch on Kate Pignetti: awesome. Not surprised at all that she hit a home run today.”
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
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