I can only talk about what I saw from the wild Wednesday we had and that was the two regional finals that were at Nanuet High School.

I’m going to start out with North Rockland.

Congratulations to the Red Raiders for making their first trip to the state final four in 25 years. This team is really firing on all cylinders. The bats have come around and are scoring early and often. But they have also gotten great pitching too. Krystn Benson and Samantha Welsh have been dominant in the circle. The numbers don’t lie, Welsh with an .58 ERA and Benson with an .41. Posting back to back double digit strikeouts. Brianna Rivera, Heather Hansen, and Amanda Babcock all batting over 300 for the season. Right now things are definitely going right for the Red Raiders.
What has impressed me the most about the Red Raiders especially during the post-season is the play of the younger players. Brianna Rivera, Taylor Corretjer, Amanda Bender, Destiny Jones, and Olivia Rivera have all stepped up huge for this team. And you know things are going right when Corretjer makes two circus catches in the same inning (Horseheads game). And yesterday’s game was no different. Amanda Bender with her hit in the second inning. Brianna Rivera, the entire post-season; Taylor Corretjer in the sectional final. It seems that every time I see this team play, that I find something to talk to these youngsters about.
And I found it a little bit fitting that it was Samantha Welsh who caught the final out of the game because of what she has meant to this team and what she has done all year long. It would’ve been cool to see Amanda Babcock get that put out the batter before but she just had a little too much mustard on the throw to Welsh but she has been a phenomenal leader for this team. Congratulations again to the Red Raiders.

Now to the comeback kids. What a game by the Pearl River Pirates yesterday. And congratulations to them on making a second straight trip to the state final four.

Before I get to the sixth inning; I’ve got to say what a gutsy performance by Katie O’Flynn. If you track her numbers back through the playoffs beginning with the eight inning thriller against Eastchester, she has been mowing down batters left and right. Yesterday, she gave up five hits which was the second time she did that. The last time, was when they lost to North Rockland in the finals of their tournament. What O’Flynn was able to do was pitch in and out of jams and gave her team a chance to win the game. She also hit two ropes off a Jessica Wood and was the first to really figure out what Wood was throwing. Now to that sixth inning, what a job by the Pirates and their senior leaders; Krystina Poloni, Kaitlin Dinet, and Katie Scrima; to get on base. Poloni was walked, Dinet and Scrima each with a single. Then Kelly Tarsnane’s sac fly to center to tie the game at one. Which then set the stage for Katie Meyers’ pinch hit two-run single.
As you all well know, this isn’t the first time that Meyers was asked to come up in a pinch-hit pressure situation. Back on May 11, she had the game-winning home run against Clarkstown North. But to me, what this shows is something that I’ve known for a couple of years. The Pirates have a lot of depth and anyone on that bench could come in and do some damage.

Both teams played their guts out yesterday and I’ll be looking forward to see what these teams can do up at Waterloo.

Regarding Valhalla and Albertus Magnus… Just having read my colleagues stories Valhalla (Jake Thomases) and Magnus (Jane’s) both did play gutsy. Going with Valhalla, I did follow live updates from our sister paper the poughkeepsie journal before I left for Nanuet High School and I give the Vikings a lot of credit for hanging tough. They were able to get the lead early but unfortunately couldn’t hold it. I give this team a lot of credit for getting their first Section 1 title since 2003. But Rhinebeck has been in this position before. Don’t knock what experience can do.
On the flip side, the Falcons got down early and just couldn’t make it up. The Falcons did an amazing job getting back to the state tournament but couldn’t get over the hump. That senior core did a great job keeping the team in the game and giving them a chance.

The bottom line, what a wild Wednesday in High School softball for Section 1 and then there were two left standing.