Marissa Nosovitch dominant in circle as Carle Place wins Long Island Class B softball championship

Even a busing issue couldn’t get the Frogs down.

Thursday was the moment every Carle Place softball player was looking forward to since first donning a uniform. The Frogs had the opportunity to win their first Long Island championship game since 2011 and even when their bus broke down shortly into the trip to Bellport and they waited for a new one to arrive, the players’ excitement level never dipped.

“I myself was definitely stressed out but the girl kept on going,” coach Christina Loeffler said. “They kept the jams on, they were singing "Mamma Mia" for hours and when the bus came, they were still singing "Mamma Mia". The energy was there and they were ready to go no matter what.”

Once they stepped on the field, the Frogs were clearly ready. Carle Place defeated Babylon, 7-2, in the softball Long Island Class B championship in a state Class B sub-regional matchup at Martha Avenue Recreation Park in Bellport on Thursday. It was Carle Place’s first Long Island championship game victory since 2011, according to Newsday records.

“We had a lot of team bonding on that bus,” pitcher Marissa Nosovitch said. “And as soon as we got here, we realized we had to lock in and do what we had to do.”

Carle Place (13-8) advances to play Albertus Magnus in the state Class B Southeast Regional Final at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at North Rockland High School. Babylon finished 14-6.

Nosovitch struck out 16 while allowing four hits and five walks in a complete game.

The Frogs broke the game open with a four-run third inning. Kate Stellato singled in Giulia Scibilia, who doubled earlier in the inning, to break a tie at 1.

Stellato and Olivia Abbatiello, who singled, scored off a high fly off the bat of Olivia DeMicco, which hit off the glove of the Babylon centerfielder to give Carle Place a 4-1 lead. Aryanna Perea then singled in DeMicco to take a 5-1 lead.

“We had aggressive at-bats from everyone,” Scibilia said. “Just staying aggressive, staying on that ball. (The pitcher) was slowing down a little bit so we just dealt with the cards we had and in the end, it brought us this win.”

Carle Place tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning. Isabella Roman scored on a wild pitch and Scibilia scored on a groundout by Abbatiello to take a 7-1 lead.

“Sometimes we can be a bunting team, sometimes we can be a hitting team and today just proved that we were a hitting team,” Loeffler said. “The girls’ bats were on fire. We’ve been working on hitting and these girls have been crushing it off the machines.”

Carle Place struck first when Alexa Mifsud scored on a wild pitch after leading the game off with a walk.

Babylon answered in the bottom of the first inning when Meghan McGurk singled in Hazel Bivona to tie the score at 1.

Isabella DeGroot went 2-for-4 as all nine hitters either reached base safely or scored a run for Carle Place. Eight of nine Carle Place players reached base safely.

“We had lots of work, lots of practice but in the end, it all paid off,” Scibilia said. “Our hitting came in clutch this game, our fielding was good and shout-out to Marissa. She dealt.”