Three South Fork high school baseball teams, East Hampton, Pierson, and Bridgehampton, have made the county playoffs, which were to have begun Tuesday.
East Hampton’s girls lacrosse team, though it won its last two games handily, over North Babylon and Deer Park, did not make the playoffs, nor did Bonac’s softball team, which, as was the case with the lacrosse team, improved markedly as the season went on. The lacrosse team finished the regular season at 5-9, and Melina Sarlo, a junior who has committed to play the sport at Hofstra, following in the footsteps of Jenna Budd and Amanda Seekamp, was feted at Deer Park Friday after scoring her 100th point. She had five goals that day. Sarlo now has 77 goals and 26 assists in her career.
The South Fork Islanders, the Southampton-based boys lacrosse team on which 10 East Hamptoners played, just missed the playoffs despite finishing the regular season at 8-6 in divisional play. Their coach, Matt Babb, said in an email that “we thought we had done enough to make the playoffs — a couple of teams above us in the standings lost their final games and finished with 7-7 records.”
One of those teams, Longwood, finished with 4.5 more power points than South Fork, however, and thus edged the Islanders out. “Although we are disappointed in the way the season ended,” Babb said, “we’re proud of the way our team battled all season long.”
South Fork went out on a high note, defeating Patchogue-Medford 12-11 in overtime last Thursday. East Hampton’s Jack Cooper won 20 of 25 face-offs in that game, scored four goals, and had two assists. Cooper’s fellow Bonacker Charlie Corwin scored the game-winner.
Getting back to baseball, East Hampton’s coach, Vinny Alversa, whose 9-9 team just made it thanks to a 3-1 here over Eastport-South Manor on May 10, said Monday morning that he expected to play at either 14-6 Miller Place or 14-4 Rocky Point Tuesday. A home game was to have been played yesterday. A third game, if needed, is to be played at the higher-seeded school today.
Pierson High School, which, after losing its first two outings, won 17 in a row, was to have played Port Jefferson in the county Class C opener at Sag Harbor’s Mashashimuet Park Tuesday. The Whalers are to play at Port Jeff today, and, if needed, at home tomorrow. Jonathan Schwartz’s team swept two three-game series versus Port Jeff and Bridgehampton during the regular season, defeating the Royals 7-3, 3-2, and 9-3, and defeating the Killer Bees 4-3, 4-3, and 7-2.
“Our season, though obviously successful, didn’t come without challenges and adversity,” Schwartz said in an email. “Bridgehampton and Port Jefferson gave us all we could handle — we were trailing early in at least half of those games, and had to fight back to win. . . . Our goal is to win two of three from Port Jeff, which will enable us to play in a Class C regional final upstate on June 3.”
Bridgehampton, which finished the regular season with a 10-9 record, will play either Pierson or Port Jefferson in the county’s C-D game at the Eastport Complex’s Field 1 on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The winner of that game will play the county’s Class B titlist (either Babylon, Mattituck, or Center Moriches) in the small schools championship game on May 27 at noon, also at the Eastport Complex.
Lou Liberatore, the Killer Bees’ coach, said in an email this week that “we swept Southold to finish with a league record of 9-6 and with an overall record of 10-9. Scott Vinski struck out 13 and allowed two earned runs in leading us to a 10-6 win in the first game. Kai Alversa pitched six innings, striking out 12 and allowing three earned runs, in the second game, which we won 9-4, and Kris Vinski went all the way in the third game, which we won 13-2, allowing two earned runs and striking out 12.”
Liberatore added that Milo Tompkins, a Ross School student who is the team’s catcher, “had a historic season, batting .583 with 35 hits, three homers, an on-base percentage of .683, and a slugging percentage of .867.”
The New York State Class D regional championship game is to be played on June 3, a Saturday. The location and time had yet to be decided as of earlier this week. The winner, said Liberatore, will advance to the Final Four in Binghamton on June 9 and 10.