Amelia DeRosa hurls 20 Ks to lift Miller Place over Mount Sinai
Miller Place starting pitcher Amelia DeRosa delivers a pitch against Mt. Sinai in a Suffolk League VI softball game, Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at Mt. Sinai. Credit: George A Faella
This softball game looked like it was over out back of Mount Sinai Elementary School. Miller Place was in a bad place, down by a run in the seventh, nobody on, one out left.
But the Panthers proved to be a tough last out for Mount Sinai. They pushed across a run to tie the score and finally untied it with three runs in the ninth.
Amelia DeRosa kept throwing strikeouts onto a very tall pile, including one to end Tuesday’s 4-1 victory that pushed Miller Place past the Mustangs and into first by a half game in Suffolk VI.
DeRosa’s complete-game masterpiece ended with 20 strikeouts.
“I felt pumped the second I woke up,” the senior righty said. “The team behind me motivates me and makes me want to work hard for them to do my best.”
The Springfield commit displayed an effective changeup. She scattered seven hits and walked one. Alex Audia’s RBI single in the sixth accounted for the run off her.
“She has great command,” coach Matt Timmons said.
His team (12-3, 8-2) is the defending Suffolk A champ, but it now starts four freshmen, an eighth-grader and a seventh-grader.
“Earlier in the season, when we dropped the first game to them, I went home and people were telling me, ‘You’ve got a young team,’ ” Timmons said, referencing a 5-2 loss to the Mustangs (10-2, 7-2).
“We’ve got the senior leadership and we’ve got the talent [so] that the youth doesn’t matter.”
Senior Olivia Almodovar got the ninth going against starter Mackenzie Celauro with a leadoff walk. A bunt by freshman Brooke Callaghan wasn’t handled cleanly. That put runners at first and third.
Freshman Ava Zicchinelli ripped a double past the third-base bag for a 2-1 lead. Eighth-grader Laney Vomero and freshman Evelyn Paul added sacrifice flies.
“Wins like this really keep us staying together and playing how we do,” Zicchinelli said.
Almodovar also got the seventh-inning rally going, delivering a single. Then Callaghan singled down the rightfield line to put runners at the corners.
“Mr. Timmons always tells us to not be nervous,” Callaghan said. “So I was just really focusing on that.”
Zicchinelli then reached on an infield error, tying the score at 1.
“We just couldn’t close the door in the seventh,” Mustangs coach Jamie Apicella said. “But hats off to Amelia. She’s a phenomenal pitcher.”
