Minisink beats Valley Central for third time this season, claims section softball crown

Some teams just have another's number.

Valley Central was the top seed in the Section 9 Class AA softball tournament but the Vikings' lone two setbacks came to No. 2 seed Minisink Valley.

Make that three.

The Warriors rallied from a 2-1 deficit and rode the two-hit pitching of Emily Smith for a 4-2 victory over the Vikings in a close-fought battle at Newburgh's Mount Saint Mary College.

Down 2-1 in the top of the fourth inning, Hannah Moulton and Ava Smith led off with singles. VC center fielder Adriana Ferraro made a fabulous catch in left-center off the bat of Ryan Perico, falling over the retaining fence - both runners smartly tagged up to advance, proving crucial on the next play.

Emily Sharp relieved Bella Mayo at that point. First batter Hannah Ringus hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Moulton, but right fielder Lindsey Serrao attempted to throw out Smith headed for third; her throw hit the runner and bounded away, allowing Smith to put Minisink up 3-2.

In the Minisink fifth, No. 9 hitter Keira Filip drew a walk, moved two bases on a wild pitch that hit the catcher Megan Mann and the umpire and scored on a lined single to right by Jazmin Mejia for a 4-2 lead.

Smith gave up an opening-pitch triple to Adriana Ferraro, who then scored on Emilia Brundage's sacrifice fly to right-center field. In the second inning she gave up a lead-off walk to Kayla Fenner, followed by a sacrifice bunt by Megan Mann. Lindsey Serraro lined a shot to Minisink second baseman Jazmin Mejia, who managed to smother the ball but her throw to first base was low and allowed Fenner to give Valley Central the 2-1 lead.

Smith would set down the next 13 Vikings batters. She got into two-out trouble in the sixth, walking Eleanor O'Neill and Fenner around a single by Autumn Strobach. Megan Mann hit a high chopper into the circle which Smith stretched high to stab and threw Mann out to end the threat.

Minisink beat Valley Central 6-5 on April 26 and 5-4 on May 4. Minisink now owns an eight-game win streak and Valley Central had its five-game win streak snapped.

Valley Central was riding a five-game win streak, including a semifinal victory over Goshen.

CLASS AAA FINAL: Pine Bush softball takes advantage of two errors for winning rally against Newburgh

CLASS C FINAL: Pine Plains scores nine early runs, rolls to Section 9-C softball title over Tri-Valley

CLASS D FINAL: Chapel Field struggles in field but beats Eldred for Section 9-D softball championship

Minisink Valley heads to the opening round of the state tournament on Tuesday, facing the Section 1 champion at 3 p.m. at Monroe-Woodbury High School.

The contest took 97 minutes to play.

kmcmillan@th-record.com

X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Minisink Valley tops Valley Central for Section 9-AA softball title