7 Photos
Westhampton Beach shortstop Allie Parascandola tries to tag out East Hampton's Susia DiSunno who slides in safely ahead of the throw. DREW BUDD
Westhampton Beach shortstop Allie Parascandola tries to tag out East Hampton's Susia DiSunno who slides in safely ahead of the throw. DREW BUDD
Westhampton Beach eighth-grader Addison Celi started in the circle on Thursday, March 31, against East Hampton. DREW BUDD
East Hampton's Caroline DiSunno started in the circle at Westhampton Beach on Thursday, March 31. DREW BUDD
Westhampton Beach senior Allie Parascandola rips a double down the left field line that gets her team on the scoreboard. DREW BUDD
Addison Celi puts a ball in play for the Hurricanes. DREW BUDD
East Hampton shortstop Emma Terry throws to first for an out. DREW BUDD
Although separated by 30 or so miles, the East Hampton and Westhampton Beach softball teams seem to be following very similar paths. Both teams have young, up-and-coming teams where both start the majority of underclassmen.
Still, despite their youth, both teams have high expectations this season, but both teams also saw how tough it can be to be successful in what is a very competitive landscape across the county.
Westhampton Beach defeated East Hampton, 8-3, at home in what was a nonleague game on Thursday, March 31. After winning what was their season opener, though, the Hurricanes dropped a close game, 7-6, at Deer Park on Saturday, then suffered an 8-0 loss at home to East Islip, which appears to be the early favorite to win the League IV title, starting the season 3-0.
Westhampton Beach head coach Jeff Doroski said it was nice getting that first win of the season against East Hampton, but when he’s starting two seniors, a sophomore, four freshmen and a pair of eighth-graders, those ups and downs that came in the following games are bound to come.
“It’s nice to get the first one under your belt,” he said. “We were supposed to play last Monday, but it was canceled because of the cold, so it was nice to finally get out there and play a real game against another team. And we split with East Hampton last year. I think we’re kind of similar, up-and-coming programs. Their coaches do a really nice job with their kids and they have their goals that they want to accomplish this year. I think there is always that extra added motivation between the two teams, but overall I was happy with the way we played against them.”
East Hampton took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning at Westhampton Beach last week when Katie Kuneth drove in Caroline DiSunno from third base on a ground out; DiSunno had reached base on a bloop single to right field and was sacrificed to second on a bunt then took third on a wild pitch.
But Westhampton Beach struck back in the bottom half of the inning, taking the lead on an error. A base hit by Ashley Erbis made it 4-1. Addison Celi, an eighth-grader, pitched six innings, struck out 10 and walked two, before having to depart to make her Junior National Honors Society induction.
East Hampton was coming off an 11-1 nonleague victory over Mattituck/Southold/Greenport in its season opener on March 25 prior to its loss at Westhampton Beach. After losing a tight 4-1 game at home on Saturday to Sayville (3-0), which appears to be the head of the class in League V, the Bonackers picked up another nonleague victory, 11-0, at home over Hampton Bays on Monday. Additional information for the Bonackers was not provided.
Westhampton Beach played at Hauppauge on Wednesday and is expected to host West Babylon this Saturday, April 9, at 10 a.m., before playing at Comsewogue April 13 at 4 p.m.
East Hampton has a busy schedule this week with four games in five days. After having already played Hampton Bays on Monday, the Bonackers played at Rocky Point on Tuesday, at Kings Park on Wednesday and is scheduled to host Half Hollow Hills West this Friday, April 8, at 4:30 p.m. before playing at Islip on April 12 at 4:30 p.m.
