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By Patrick McCormack
Brooklyn Daily
St. Edmund took advantage of mistakes and used timely hitting to win its second-straight Brooklyn-Queens Class A softball title.
The top-seeded Eagles defeated No. 3 St. Saviour 5–2 on Thursday in Bergen Beach to complete an unbeaten league season.
St. Edmund moves on to face Archdiocesan winner St. Catharine in the city championship game at a date to be determined. Catcher Nicole Quintana, who was on both championship squads, believes this team meshed well.
“We just all come together,” she said. “We are all different puzzle pieces and we all fit together into a great puzzle.”
The Eagles (14–0) took a 2–1 lead in fourth inning by taking advantage of mistakes by St. Saviour (10–4). The frame started with Kellie O’Neil striking out, but reaching base on a wild pitch and an error — one of four errors in the inning.
Two batters later, O’Neil was able to score on a throwing error and St. Edmund took the lead on another miscue in the field. Eagles coach Rowena Motylewski saw the frame as a big one for her team, which was having trouble at the plate.
“You have to take advantage of other people’s mistakes,” she said. “They do it to us. We have to do it to them, especially if you are struggling in the box.”
St. Saviour coach John Camera was proud that his team made it to the championship, but knew the mistakes in the fourth inning hurt.
“We were the underdogs, and we came up to playing in the championship, and my girls did wonderful,” he said. “We played the field in a little in too much when we should have played a little bit back. I don’t think my girls knew how many outs there were. I take the fault for that.”
St. Saviour had an opportunity to tie the score in the top of the sixth. With runners on first and third, and one out, O’Neil was able to field the ball at short and throw Natalie Gil out at the plate to hold on to the 2–1 lead.
“Huge moral boast, if that run scored then it kind of deflates everything,” Motylewski said of the play from her shortstop.
O’Neil just saw the play as part of her job.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal at the time, but everyone started cheering,” she said.
The Eagles added three runs in the bottom of the sixth on the only three hits of the game off St. Saviour ace Grace Sullivan. The big blow was an RBI double from Quintana. The runs were enough for Eagles starter Kayla Maiolo, who struck out 11.
St. Edmund moved down a division three years ago, and after winning the championship the past two seasons in Class A, Motylewski thinks a move back up for her team could happen.
“I think it is definitely possible,” Motylewski said. “We are not losing too many girls. We are only losing three seniors, so provided the league is okay with it, we might move up to the AA next year.”