LI's top softball outfielders go all-out to make every play

When a ball is hit into either outfield gap on the Sayville softball field, there’s usually no sign of panic from the Golden Flashes’ dugout. Just excitement in anticipation of Bella Lundquist making a spectacular play.

The senior centerfielder has been a walking highlight reel throughout her five-year career.

Diving catches. Home-run robberies. Throwing runners out on the basepaths. You name it, she’s done it.

“The cool part about those plays is that you can’t really practice them,” Lundquist said. “You don’t know when they’re coming, but when they do come, you just have to go do it. It’s a natural reaction and adrenaline. When you execute them, it’s really fun.”

While those plays don’t always show up in the box score, they can have a significant impact on a game.

In last year’s season opener against Kings Park, Lundquist laid out in right-centerfield to make the catch for the final out of the fifth inning with Sayville holding a one-run lead. Later in the season, she reached over the centerfield fence to take a home run away from Islip. When the UConn commit makes one of her signature plays, it ignites the rest of the team.

“She’s just one of those kids that nothing is out of reach for her and I think that’s her mindset,” coach Tiffany Rowan said. “I think that’s kind of carried us, that our pitchers knew they didn’t have to throw perfect. To have someone that can cover as much ground as she can is a great luxury to have.”

Rowan is entering her 17th year at Sayville, but she hasn’t been as hands-on the last two years due to family matters, leaving most of her duties to assistant Kristen Bricker. Rowan plans to be back in full force this season and is excited to see what Lundquist has in store before she takes her talents to Storrs, Connecticut.

“We pulled her up in eighth grade because we knew the potential we had,” Rowan said. “To come back and see how far she’s come and how much she’s developed, it’s like what we always saw in her. Now I get to see it every day.”

Ava Fierst, Farmingdale

Lundquist will be seeing Ava Fierst in the Big East for the next four years.

The senior centerfielder is committed to St. John’s and is no stranger to making high-flying plays. Fierst crashed through the net fence at Calhoun after making a catch on the run.

“Any time I see the ball in the air, I’m not letting it drop,” Fierst said. “I need to get it into the glove. With those plays, even though I can’t really practice them, I give all my effort to make the play and not let it drop.”

Fierst cites speed as a huge component of her range in the outfield. She was 21-for-21 on stolen base attempts last season.

Avery Betancourt, Mepham

Speed is the name of Avery Betancourt’s game. The junior centerfielder is a slap hitter that had 27 extra-base hits and 16 steals last year. She made the final putout of a one-run win over Syosset by making a diving catch in shallow left-centerfield. A few weeks earlier, she ran in to make a sliding catch in shallow center against Oceanside.

“My first step is really important,” Betancourt said. “Even with regular pop-ups, I’m making sure I’m always taking a good first step. I’m reading the ball off the bat. First step makes a huge difference because if I don’t read the ball right and I end up not diving for it or diving too late, the game could be totally different.”

Kendall Ward, Eastport-South Manor

Kendall Ward, a senior centerfielder, is another speedster. But her arm might be her best asset. The Oneonta commit had 10 outfield assists last year. In a playoff game against Smithtown West, Ward caught a flyball in center and fired a perfectly-placed missile to home plate to beat the tagging runner by three steps for an inning-ending double play.

“We do a lot of throwing in practice and it’s built my arm up to have that range when I’m throwing from anywhere in the outfield,” Ward said.

“It’s reassuring when you have an outfielder with an accurate arm to a target,” said Laura Ward, Kendall’s mother and ESM’s coach. “It is an underappreciated skillset. It’s not typically what you read about in the paper or what everyone talks about. You talk so much about pitching and offense and some good plays in the infield. But when you have a good outfielder, and when you have three good outfielders, it really helps take some pressure off your pitcher.”