Kate Heuser, Brianna Walters give Baldwin softball edge over Mineola

Averi Thomas squeezed the final out in foul territory down the rightfield line for Baldwin. The potential tying and winning runs were left stranded for Mineola.

The game had lived up to the occasion.

The top two teams in the Nassau A-III softball standings faced each other Thursday. They were separated by just one game before the first pitch at Mineola. After the final pitch, they were separated by just one run.

Kate Heuser fired a four-hitter, Brianna Walters drove in the deciding run with a sixth-inning infield single, and Baldwin edged Mineola, 2-1, snapping the Mustangs’ eight-game winning streak.

It gave the Bruins (11-4, 9-2) a sweep of the two-game regular-season series and a share of the top rung in the conference standings with Mineola (9-2, 9-2) with five games left.

“That’s been the goal from the first game,” Baldwin coach Tom Llewellyn said of the A-III title. “We know that ran through Mineola. They’re a great team.

“… This is definitely our best win of the season, against a quality, quality opponent that’s coached very well.”

Julianna Plunkett delivered an RBI single for the Mustangs in the first, but Dylan Reyer countered with one for the Bruins in the fifth. So it was 1-1 heading for the Baldwin sixth.

Jadyn Culbreath singled with one out for her second hit off Mineola starter Brianna Voyer, who yielded eight singles over seven innings.

Culbreath was erased on a force. But Jessica Darcy followed with a single. Selina Mitchell came in to pinch run at second. With Walters at the plate, Mitchell took a calculated chance with two outs and swiped third on the second pitch.

“It’s one of those plays she read,” Llewellyn said. “She read the ball outside and the catcher going away from the play, and she took off.”

Walters then looped a ball over Voyer. There was no play, and Mitchell scored the go-ahead run.

“Oh my God, it was nerve-wracking,” Walters said. “But just seeing how I was able to run through the base and get a run, it felt amazing.”

Heuser, who fanned five, issued two of her four walks with two outs and nobody on in the seventh. But the junior righthander nailed it down right there.

“I think this team really has the potential to go far,” Heuser said of the Nassau AA playoffs.

The same could be said of Mineola in the A tournament.

“Today was finally a day where we had to be tested, had to compete every single inning,” coach Monique Wink said. “… Some days the special game goes your way. Some days it doesn’t. But seeing them compete today gives me a lot of hope for what the A class playoffs brings.”