Massapequa International softball stays alive at Mid-Atlantic Region tournament on Mia Victor's one-hitter

BRISTOL, Conn. — With the season on the line, Mia Victor was called upon to make her first start in the circle for Massapequa in the Mid-Atlantic Region 12U softball tournament.

She was nearly perfect.

Victor struck out seven and walked one in a one-hitter to lead Massapequa to a 3-0 win over New Jersey’s Hanover Township in an elimination bracket game Tuesday night at Breen Field.

Massapequa will face Middletown (Delaware) in another elimination game at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

“I was pretty nervous because I haven’t pitched a full game in Little League yet,” Victor said. “All the nerves came off once the first inning happened.”

Leadoff hitter Olivia Feldman calmed Victor’s nerves when she drove the second pitch of the game to the leftfield fence and dashed around the bases for aninside-the-park-home run, giving Massapequa a 1-0 lead

“I was thinking, ‘Dang, that was a really good hit,’ but I didn’t think it was gonna be a home run,” Feldman said. “As I’m rounding third, I just see [Manager Rich Eaton] saying, ‘Go! Go! Go!’ I was like, ‘OK, let’s do this.’”

Marisa Dukiet sent her own shot to the leftfield fence for a leadoff triple in the third and scored on a perfectly placed bunt single by Ava Antico. After a single by Lexi Phillips, Feldman smoked a groundball that went under the glove of Hanover’s shortstop Anna Hendricks to plate Antico, giving Massapequa a 3-0 lead.

Dukiet went 2-for-2 with a run and a stolen base and Feldman had two RBIs.

Hanover’s only hit came with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, when Aubrey Roberts lofted a high flyball to right centerfield that fell in between Eaton’s daughter, Kailyn and Sophia Evans.

“I’ve seen Mia pitching in all the tournaments on Long Island since she was nine years old, so I knew this is what Mia could do,” Rich Eaton said. “Mia just had to show everyone else what she could do. I had total faith in her.”

Victor pitched an inning of relief in Massapequa’s 10-0 win over Middletown on Sunday. After that game, Rich Eaton said the key was to wait until the last second to tell Victor that she was pitching.

This time, she had a whole day to think about being in the circle.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Mia,” Rich Eaton said. “When I told her she was starting yesterday, it wasn’t the biggest smile in the world. But as the day went on and on, she looked like she was ready.”

As for Sunday’s win over Middletown, Massapequa isn’t expecting another lopsided affair when the teams meet on Wednesday.

“They’re way better than the score we beat them by,” Rich Eaton said. “We don’t expect a 10-0 game, for sure. They’re a very good hitting team and it’s always hard to beat a team twice.”

And with another game, of course, comes more TV time.

“It feels good to know that we have more games to play, even though we’re in the loser’s bracket,” Feldman said. “More games, more TV time. . . I get to watch myself more.”