Westhampton Beach Softball Continues Torrid Second-Half Run, Clinches Postseason Berth With Win Over ESM

Jeff Doroski has seen his fair share of success coaching varsity sports. He’s won a state title with the McGann-Mercy baseball team, was an assistant coach when Mercy’s girls basketball team won a county title and he also won a Long Island Championship with the Riverhead football team.

The second-half run that his Westhampton Beach softball team is currently on, and will try and continue this week in the playoffs, ranks right up there will all of them, Doroski said.

With both teams needing a win to move on to the Suffolk County Class A postseason, Westhampton Beach defeated host and crosstown rival Eastport-South Manor, 9-2, on May 11 to earn the 11th and final seed. Since an 8-6 loss at Connetquot on April 14, the Hurricanes (6-6 in League IV, 10-7 overall) have won nine of their last 10 games, and although they were the last team to get into the playoffs, they will be one of the hottest teams going in.

Westhampton Beach played at No. 6 Kings Park on Tuesday to start the double-elimination playoffs. If they win that game, the Hurricanes will move on to play No. 3 Miller Place this Thursday, May 19, at 4 p.m. If they lose, they’ll play Friday. For up-to-date brackets go to sectionxi.org.

“I have never been a part of something like this. I’ve been fortunate in my 26 years of coaching to be a part of some really good things … this ranks right up there,” Doroski said. “Knowing where we were, what had to be done, it was a tall order, and to be honest, I didn’t know if we were going to be able to do it, but those teams we were losing to earlier in the season, we were winning those games in the second half of the season.

“Nobody likes losing, but maybe those losses early on helped us get to a point where maybe we can win those games.”

Westhampton Beach went into its finale with ESM (5-7 in League IV, 6-10 overall) knowing the Sharks were going to have a little bit of a leg up, being they were home and honoring their seniors with a Senior Day celebration. On top of that, Westhampton Beach defeated ESM earlier in the season despite not getting a hit off Sharks starting pitcher Lena Ryan in what wound up being a 1-0 win. But as the second half of the season has shown, the Hurricanes are a different team now.

Antonella Russo drove in the first run of the game in the second inning, then Kali Baumiller capped it with a two-run double down the left field line to give the ’Canes a 3-0 lead. Lillie Henthorne then led off the third inning with a triple and was brought in by Allie Parascandola, who singled. After Rylee McGinness reached on a infield hit, Addison Celi drove in Parascandola with a base hit, then Russo brought in McGinness on a sacrifice fly, and just like that, Westhampton Beach led, 7-0, after three. The ’Canes went on to tack on a run in the fourth and another in the fifth, which was more than enough for Celi, the starting pitcher, who struck out 10 in the complete game.

Russo finished 2 for 2 with a run scored and two RBIs, McGinness went 2 for 4 and scored a pair of runs and Parascandola went 1 for 3 with two RBIs.

“We went in knowing both teams were in the same spot — win and move on, or lose and go home,” Parascandola said. “It was their Senior Game, but we knew we had to step on the gas early and play our best, hit consistently, field behind our pitcher and make her feel comfortable.

“Every time we saw a pitcher the second time in the second half of the season, we hit way better off of them,” she added. “We’ve just been more and more confident at the plate.”

Both Parascandola and Henthorne are the only two starting seniors for Westhampton Beach, so making the playoffs was important to them. Parascandola has now been a part of three different playoffs in her five-year varsity career, while this will be Henthorne’s second time in the playoffs in her four-year career. The majority of the team is very young, with an entire freshman outfield and two eighth-graders also starting.

“Allie and I talked to the girls and just told them, we want this so badly, to go into the playoffs two years in a row, and last year we weren’t in for that long,” Henthorne said. “We just knew how bad we wanted it and we had to want it more than they did. And I guess in the end we proved that we did.”

The playoffs are going back to a double-elimination format after last season’s playoffs being entirely single elimination with the shortened schedule due to the pandemic. On Friday, Doroski said he had been racking his brain trying to figure out where his team would play on Tuesday, but in the end, the ’Canes opponent won’t matter much if they continue to play as well as they have been. They’ve basically been in playoff mode for close to a month already.

“Nothing really changes. Our mindset is our next game is our next important game,” Doroski said.

“I think we’re going to show up and I don’t think the other teams are going to be expecting us to do as well as we can do and will do,” Henthorne said. “Honestly, no one expected us to come back the second time and pretty much dominate, so I do think we can catch some teams by surprise in the playoffs.”