Seaford softball's Rylie Betz maintains power surge as her home run helps deliver victory over Glen Cove

Rylie Betz has a ton of power. She picked a good time to put it on display Thursday.

With two outs and two runners on base, the freshman got a hold of one and sent it over the centerfield fence for a three-run homer.

Betz’s big swing gave visiting Seaford a two-run lead in the fifth inning of its 4-3 win over Glen Cove in non-league softball.

“You’ve just got to try and hit a ball hard somewhere,” Betz said. “I was just so happy, so excited. I was not expecting that to happen.”

Seaford had two outs with no runners on in the fifth, before Kaitlyn Young worked an eight-pitch walk and Katie Young followed with a first-pitch single to left.

“Those at-bats were huge and there’s a lot of work and discipline that goes behind those at-bats,” coach Joe Nastasi said. “It’s not easy to battle back against a very good pitcher. She threw a great game. It was just a nice, disciplined approach from our girls in that inning.”

Then, Betz capitalized on the two-out rally with her fifth homer in six games.

“She has a great bat and a great barrel,” Skyler Secondino said. “I have a lot of faith in her, even though she’s a freshman. That doesn’t really matter, she’s a great ballplayer.”

Secondino, a senior pitcher, made sure to keep the lead at all costs.

Glen Cove loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the sixth, but Secondino and third baseman Alyssa Rodriguez each fielded a groundball and got the force out at home. Secondino scooped up another grounder and fired to first to escape the inning.

Secondino allowed a two-run homer to Brooke Simmons in the first inning, giving Glen Cove a 2-1 lead.

“She has a lot of grit,” Nastasi said. “She’s someone who can get punched in the face and punch back. She lets up a home run against a very good hitter in the first inning and she came right back, throwing strikes and being aggressive in the zone.”

Secondino struck out five and allowed two earned runs in a complete game. Simmons struck out 14 for Glen Cove (3-2).

After winning two straight county titles — Class B in 2023 and Class A last year — Seaford (3-3) moved up in Nassau’s ability-based conferences from Conference II to Conference I.

“When I was in eighth grade, we were in Conference I,” Secondino said. "Now, as a senior coming back up definitely felt like a change, but at the same time, we played a lot of Conference I teams last year and we knew we could roll with them any day.”