Fitzgibbons Grand Slam Sends NYU-Poly to Finals
Lady Jays rally to defeat Farmingdale
Brooklyn, NY - Trailing 4-2 in the home half of the 6th inning, NYU-Poly's softball had it's back to the wall. But that all changed with one swing of the bat as freshmen Corinne Fitzgibbons (Brooklyn, NY) hit a screaming, line-drive grand slam over the left field fence to give the Lady Jays a 6-4 lead over Farmingdale in the Skyline Conference Softball Championships Saturday afternoon at Floyd Bennett Field.
The Lady Jays (30-8) went on to win 7-4 and will play tomorrow in the championship game at 12:00 noon. The game will be webcasted on BlueJaysLive.
Freshmen pitcher Miranda Merilli (Altoona, PA) made a few early mistakes, leading to a 4-0 lead for Farmingdale after three innings. One mistake was hanging a pitch that Farmingdale's Nicole Farber rocketed over the center field fence, for a two-run homer. With that home run, she briefly tied Fitzgibbons for the conference lead. But, that would last a mere 1/2 inning as Fitzgibbons connected on Farmingdale pitcher Hope Zino's pitch, smashing a 2-run homer to cut the lead in half, 4-2.
That score held until the bottom of the sixth when NYU-Poly's bats began to make some noise. Freshmen Shelby Bruns (Elko, NV) led off with a base hit. She advanced to second on senior Ryan Graybill's (Missouric City, TX) infield hit. Freshmen Anna Marie Smith (Henderson, NV) loaded the bases with another infield hit, setting up the heroics by Fitzgibbons.
Zino struck out three and walked one while suffering the loss. Merilli struck out six and walked four en route to the victory.
Farmingdale defeated Mount Saint Mary, 9-0 in five innings to set up a Championship rematch - with one catch - Farmingdale must win twice to claim its 2nd straight Skyline Title, NYU-Poly needs one win to claim it's first.
