Mineola Softball Clinches Playoff Berth with Win Over Division

The Mineola girls varsity softball team found themselves in a familiar situation Monday afternoon. They had been facing Levittown Division – the team that had dealt them their first loss of the season, a blowout no less – and down a number of runs.

Here though, they were at friendly confines of instead of the larger industrial zone of the backlot of Division Avenue. Here Mineola pitcher Emily Skupp had been healthy, her ankle healed from an injury sustained before that .

Mineola had sent the top of their lineup to the plate in the sixth: Lauren Fischer, Skupp and Christina Palmenteri. Two singles and a double later the score was tied with Palmenteri on first; it had been her only hit of the day. Two batters later with one out, captain Valerie Fischer singled her in with the go-ahead run.

In the seventh, Skupp did her job in a not-so-friendly way, sending the Lady Blue Dragons down in order to clinch a playoff berth for the Lady Mustangs. She finished with nine strikeouts and two base hits including a triple in the first capped off by a steal of homeplate.