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Philipstown Lady Lightning 2007 Senior Softball Finishes 2nd in State
The Philipstown Lady Lightning Senior softball Little League team became the first Philipstown team to ever win a District 17 title in the 54-year history of Philipstown Little League. Not stopping there, the Lady Lightning won its next two games behind the pitching of Chelsea Lisikatos to claim the Section 2 title (Hudson Valley) and advanced to the State tournament in Nanuet, NY.
In the first Section 2 game Chelsea Lisikatos spun a three hitter with eight strikeouts at Haverstraw against a tough District 18 champion team 4-0. Jade Lyons had two hits and Cassie Barcavage had two hits including a double. Chelsea, Cassie, Meghan Spratt and Lily Rubino drove in runs with hits and played excellent defense along with the rest of the team in the shutout.
This win set up a Section 2 championship at home at the 9D field against an experienced District 15 team from Chatham, NY that had already won two games in the Section 2 tournament round. After giving up a run in the first inning Chelsea Lisikatos mowed down the Chatham hitters until late in the game while the Philipstown bats went to work in the third and fourth innings. In the third inning the Lady Lightning scored five runs and added three more in the fourth to leave the Chatham team in shock. Jade Lyons, Chelsea and Cassie Barcavage each had two doubles and three RBI in the game. Laura Campbell and Lily Rubino had two hits also. Excellent defense was played by Laura, Jen Lombardo, Emily Marsh, Katelyn Mastrantone and Gina DiMeo along with the rest of the team. Chelsea allowed two hits for the game and two late runs which the Lady Lightning matched with three of their own for an 11-3 victory.
Following this Section 2 clinching win the team traveled to Nanuet, NY for the weekend State tournament - Final Four for New York State. The winner would advance to the Eastern Regionals the weekend after. The Final Four turned out to be a Final Three when the Section 4 champion from Long Island decided to attend the National Pony tournament in North Carolina for the weekend. So in the State tournament there was the Philipstown Lady Lightning, a team from Staten Island - Mid Island Little League and a team from upstate - Fredonia Little League. This Fredonia team had won the State tournament in the Junior League in 2006 as well as advanced to the NY State High School softball Final Four in 2007 where they finished second. Mid Island won the LL World Series for boys in 1964 and was a 2006 participant in the boys World Series and is a perennial contender for both boys and girls teams of all ages in the Little League All Star tournaments. Philipstown was going to be without its stalwart pitcher Chelsea Lisikatos because it turned out she had also committed to the NC tournament and would be away. The rest of the team gave it a go, facing the tough Fredonia team in the first game.
Philipstown got hits from its first two hitters Laura Campbell and Emily Marsh but could not capitalize as the next three hitters went down leaving the runners on second and third. This was a portent of things to come as Laura Campbell pitched well but Fredonia pounded the ball and held Philipstown scoreless heading into the late innings with a 7-0 lead. A late miscue led to three more runs and the final was Fredonia - 10, Philipstown 0. Fredonia then crushed Mid Island 20-1 which set up the next days' games with Philipstown squaring off with Mid Island for the right to play Fredonia for the State title.
Philipstown played one of its better games of the year in the first game on Sunday with Jen Lombardo pitching a six hitter with six strikeouts and also contributing a triple, single and two RBI. Jade Lyons played a fantastic game going four for four at the plate with two doubles and three RBI and made several outstanding plays in center field. Cassie Barcavage had two hits including a double and two rbi. Emily Marsh had a hit, two stolen bases and scored two runs. Gina DiMeo had a double and a walk and played excellent defense as did Liz Milner, Katelyn Mastrantone, Holly Whiston, Megan Barcavage, Lily Rubino and Laura Campbell.
So Philipstown had reached the State final game and would have to beat Fredonia - a formidable task. Jen Lombardo started her second game on the hot afternoon after pitching a complete game in the first game and had a tough first inning. Jen did not get much help from her defense in the inning and yielded six runs wile walking four batters. Things did not get much better by the third inning when Laura Campbell relieved Jen and Fredonia was already ahead 12-0. Philipstown did not give up battling thru the heat and fatigue and mounted a rally in the fifth inning. Jade Lyons started with a hit and Jen Lombardo walked. Katelyn Mastrantone drove in the first run for Philipstown with a single. Gina DiMeo walked and Liz Milner had a big hit to drive in Jen but Katelyn was gunned down at the plate on a close play trying to score the second run on Liz's single. Philipstown would not threaten again and Fredonia won the State title with Philipstown second in the state. Fredonia went on to the Eastern Regionals in Massachusetts and went 3- 1 in pool play before losing to eventual East champion Connecticut in 11 innings in the Eastern Regional semifinals. Connecticut allowed only two runs in six games and advanced to the Little League Senior Softball World Series this week in Delaware.
All in all it was a fantastic year for the Lady Lightning with the District 17, Section 2 crowns, finishing second in the state and winning an unprecedented (for Philipstown Little League) 5 games in the All Star tournaments.
During the season and tournaments the pitching was handled by Chelsea Lisikatos, Laura Campbell, Jen Lombardo and Katlyn Mastrantone all who won games.
Excellent hitting and fielding were also provided by Cassie Barcavage, Megan Barcavage, Alex Milner, Liz Milner, Jade Lyons, Chloe Solomon, Emily Marsh, Lily Rubino, Meghan Spratt, Gina DiMeo and Holly Whiston.
The girls have much to be proud of - five girls hit over .400 with Chelsea leading the way with a .478 average and a tie with Cassie for RBI with 13 each. Cassie hit .448 with Jade Lyons, Megan Barcavage and Jen Lombardo also hitting over .400.
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