Thursday, May 15, 2003 4:00 AM EDT
Bayside girls battle back to beat Bryant, 6-3
It was an unconventional move, but then again Steve Piorkowski is an unconventional coach. So when the Bayside softball coach, the
same guy who substitutes five at a time when heading the girls’ basketball team, told Sapphire Edwards and Kim Hattan his intentions to
platoon the two senior pitchers each and every game, Edwards and Hattan put their initial bewilderment aside and decided to roll with the
pitches.
The Commodores are 4-0 since the new strategy and the pitchers are warming up to the idea even more, especially after a come-from-
behind 6-3 win at Bryant last Thursday. “It’s not bad,” Edwards said. “It’s actually helpful. To see two different speeds, two rotations, it
throws them off.” After giving up three runs on three hits in the first inning, Edwards settled down and allowed just one base runner in the
following three innings, striking out six.
Just when it appeared Edwards was heating up, Piorkowski made the change, and Hattan, who was playing shortstop, stepped in to pitch
with Bayside (16-4, 9-1 Queens A) trailing 3-1. Hattan picked up right where Edwards left off, retiring nine of the 10 batters she faced. She
struck out five and, with the exception of Sandy Tejada’s one-out single to right field in the seventh inning, didn’t allow one ball out of the
infield. “She was having a great game, so I thought, ‘Let her finish,’” Hattan said of Edwards. “But it worked out, so I’m happy.”
Bryant (28-3, 11-1), which saw its 21-game winning streak snapped, was still three outs away from virtually clinching the division title. But
Owls ace Ally Stamatiades, who fanned 10 batters in the previous meeting between the two teams — a 3-1 Bryant win April 14 — was
touched up for nine hits, including an opposite-field solo home run to right by Nicole Karr that cut Bryant’s lead to 3-2 in the sixth inning.
“I basically told them to get base runners on, and we did,” said Piorkowski, who had at least one runner on base in each inning. “We cut
down on the strikeouts and we basically put the ball in play.” The usually sure-handed Bryant defense made three errors in the seventh
inning, including a costly two-run boot by first baseman Jessica Santiago that gave Bayside the lead for good.
“I don’t know if it was nerves, I don’t know what got to them, but it was uncharacteristic of the way we’ve played this year,” Bryant coach
Wally Hausdorf said. “Every ball seemed to tip off a glove. I knew they weren’t going to quit because we scored three runs in the first. We
didn’t help ourselves by producing afterwards.”
Bayside 5, Francis Lewis 4. Dayna Navatta went 4-for-5 and hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning, Annel Sanchez belted
a game-tying home run in the seventh inning, and Hattan escaped a no-out bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning for the Commodores.
Bayside girls battle back to beat Bryant, 6-3
It was an unconventional move, but then again Steve Piorkowski is an unconventional coach. So when the Bayside softball coach, the
same guy who substitutes five at a time when heading the girls’ basketball team, told Sapphire Edwards and Kim Hattan his intentions to
platoon the two senior pitchers each and every game, Edwards and Hattan put their initial bewilderment aside and decided to roll with the
pitches.
The Commodores are 4-0 since the new strategy and the pitchers are warming up to the idea even more, especially after a come-from-
behind 6-3 win at Bryant last Thursday. “It’s not bad,” Edwards said. “It’s actually helpful. To see two different speeds, two rotations, it
throws them off.” After giving up three runs on three hits in the first inning, Edwards settled down and allowed just one base runner in the
following three innings, striking out six.
Just when it appeared Edwards was heating up, Piorkowski made the change, and Hattan, who was playing shortstop, stepped in to pitch
with Bayside (16-4, 9-1 Queens A) trailing 3-1. Hattan picked up right where Edwards left off, retiring nine of the 10 batters she faced. She
struck out five and, with the exception of Sandy Tejada’s one-out single to right field in the seventh inning, didn’t allow one ball out of the
infield. “She was having a great game, so I thought, ‘Let her finish,’” Hattan said of Edwards. “But it worked out, so I’m happy.”
Bryant (28-3, 11-1), which saw its 21-game winning streak snapped, was still three outs away from virtually clinching the division title. But
Owls ace Ally Stamatiades, who fanned 10 batters in the previous meeting between the two teams — a 3-1 Bryant win April 14 — was
touched up for nine hits, including an opposite-field solo home run to right by Nicole Karr that cut Bryant’s lead to 3-2 in the sixth inning.
“I basically told them to get base runners on, and we did,” said Piorkowski, who had at least one runner on base in each inning. “We cut
down on the strikeouts and we basically put the ball in play.” The usually sure-handed Bryant defense made three errors in the seventh
inning, including a costly two-run boot by first baseman Jessica Santiago that gave Bayside the lead for good.
“I don’t know if it was nerves, I don’t know what got to them, but it was uncharacteristic of the way we’ve played this year,” Bryant coach
Wally Hausdorf said. “Every ball seemed to tip off a glove. I knew they weren’t going to quit because we scored three runs in the first. We
didn’t help ourselves by producing afterwards.”
Bayside 5, Francis Lewis 4. Dayna Navatta went 4-for-5 and hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning, Annel Sanchez belted
a game-tying home run in the seventh inning, and Hattan escaped a no-out bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning for the Commodores.
