Great Kills upset by Hillcrest in first game of title round

After her Great Kills 10s softball all-stars won the Downtown Manhattan Little League’s Section 3 winners’ bracket final by a 16-0 mercy-rule margin on Wednesday, manager Katie Flynn described the philosophy her team has followed all summer.

“We cherish our victories, but we definitely move on and focus on the next team,” she said. “We’ve seen a lot in this tournament. The games we’ve played (in the District 24 Tournament) have been very close and they’ve not been easy games. We’ve learned a lot and we’ve adapted as a team to get to where we are today.”

That credo will now be put to the test. Great Kills ran into a buzz saw named Fiona Kenny on Friday night, losing 3-1 to Hillcrest Little League in Game 1 of the double-elimination tournament finals. The Yonkers hurler allowed just two hits and struck out 13 in the win. The teams meet again Saturday, with the winner booking a ticket to the New York State tournament, which begins Monday at St. James-Smithtown Little League on Long Island.

Saturday’s winner-take-all title game will be played at Great Kills. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

As she has all summer, Great Kills’ Kassidy Burke was spectacular in the circle, striking out 12 batters and allowing just three hits and two earned runs in five stellar innings.

From the start, both pitchers showed that it would be difficult to score hits on this humid night, both striking out in the first inning.

Hillcrest managed to get a runner to third in the second inning, but Burke continued her barrage of strikeouts and drove the bases clear to quell the threat.

CHECK OUT OUR LITTLE LEAGUE COVERAGE

The game would remain scoreless until the fourth, when Hillcrest broke through with a pair of hits and an error to take a 2-0 lead. Great Kills answered right away in the top of the fifth when Sophia Cimmino hit a long fly ball to right-center field that turned into a home run when the two Hillcrest outfielders collided, sending the speedy Cimmino circling the bases.

In the bottom of the inning, Hillcrest got one run back with a walk and a single, extending their lead to 3-1.

GK posed a final threat in the top of the sixth. With two outs, Ashley Cippolo singled and advanced to third on a stolen base and a passed ball, but was stranded there when Kenny got the last out.

***

COMMENTS: Great Kills, although playing on home turf, were the visiting team due to a coin toss… The game, originally scheduled for 7:30 p.m., was moved to 6:00 p.m. due to expected bad weather.