John Jay Softball Picks Each other up in Comeback Victory over North Salem

On Friday April 27, John Jay took to AP Farms Field and the overcast skies turned out to forecast a pretty bad start. A few errors, some base running mistakes and at least one questionable call, and the girls fell behind 6-0 to North Salem. But Laney Daly kept her head up because the chance for a comeback was easy to calculate. “It only takes one person to lift everyone up," she boasted, and the shortstop only had to look to first base to be proven right.

“When I was up in the count, I was like, I knew I got it,” said Jamie Siegel, and her leadoff walk sparked a sixth run 4th that led to an exciting 11-6 victory.

The gathering clouds began immediately, though. Laney Daly was unable to handle Cora Kennedy’s leadoff grounder, and North Salem was off. Meghan Ledley laid down a sacrifice bunt next, and Sophia Aqeel blasted a run-scoring triple.

Up to the task, starter Riley Foote limited the damage, shut down the Tigers in the second and the Wolves looked like they would answer right back. Bella Barry beat out a dribbler, Siegel blooped a single to right, and a throwing error put both runners in scoring position.

No one out, Josie Scott struck out looking and Coach Steve DelMoro’s choice to go small ball didn’t work out. Brooke Buatte laid down a bunt, Kennedy fielded the ball in front of the circle and got Barry at the plate.

Exiting unscathed, Ledley and Aqeel struck again. Two line singles to left and a wild pitch put the runners on second and third.

The Tigers had better luck with the bunt, though. Emily Collura dropped one down third, and with Ledley bearing down, Foote’s throw home wasn’t handled by Catcher Carys Cooper. Going back to the screen Aqeel scored too, and following another error, Ana Brewster ’s double opened up a 6-0 lead.

Still, John Jay threatened in the third. A walk by Daly and an opposite field single by Cooper put Barry in position to deliver with two outs. Popping up to the pitcher, Kennedy made the play, but uncertainty took flight when the ball fell to the ground. Unfortunately, the ump ruled that the ball came out on the transfer, and the inning was over.

So Foote could only retake the mound with a 6-0 deficit and refused to yield to any finger pointing. “I really don’t think about it,” said the eight grader. “Mistakes are just plays, and I go one pitch at a time.”That said, she fielded two come backers to the circle and her two strike changeup left the bat helplessly on the shoulders of Collura. So the stage was set for Siegel to do the same with her bat, and the crucial walk drawn, she also put on a show with some great base running.

On Buatte’s slap toward third, Siegel’s little dance paused Collura long enough, and the third baseman’s throw to first was late. Still only one out, Sam Luper walked, and John Jay was certainly not above receiving a break. Maya Nelsen lofted a can of corn to center, and Brewster overran the routine fly ball.

The first run was in and more were on the way. Daly smoked a double and again resorted to softball 101. “I was really down in the beginning of the game, and I was like, I just got to go out there and have fun,” she clarified.

Now a 6-3 game, Foote didn’t look like she was following suit by falling behind 0-2. She made a party of the pitcher’s count nonetheless. “I had to battle, and I did,” she said after driving in two more with a single.

A one run game, Cooper’s single put runners on second and third, and Barry stepped in with a chance to take the lead. “I stepped into the box and controlled my emotions,” she said, and her sacrifice fly to left tied the game.

Kennedy was able to retire Siegel to end the rally. But after Foote didn’t let North Salem answer back in the 5th, Kennedy once again got thrown to the Wolves.

Hit in the arm, Josie Scott took one for the team, stole second and came around when Chloe Matt couldn’t field Sam Luper’s grounder. Nelsen’s foul out to first then put Daly on the block again.

No problem, the shortstop lashed a single, and the seventh run in, Foote went with the pitch for another run scoring single. Barry also made no apology when Brewster couldn’t field another flyball, and Nelsen completed the scoring with a single to drive in two in the bottom of sixth.

Smiling victory, Foote made easy work of North Salem in the seventh, and again, not much sophistication was needed from Daly to explain the amazing comeback. “We just pick each other up,” she concluded.

North Salem Action Shots : https://richmonetti.smugmug.com/NSSoftball/