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Sports

New Hyde Park Softball Beats Floral Park, 5-0

Lisa O'Callaghan strikes out 10 in shut-out win over Floral Park.

Host defeated Floral Park by a score of 5-0 on Friday afternoon to improve to 4-4 in Conference A-I play.

Lisa O’Callaghan celebrated her birthday in style with a complete game shutout of Floral Park to go along with a pair of hits to lead the way for a Gladiators victory. The hard-throwing, right hander struck out 10 players en route to the 5-0 win over Floral Park. The girls celebrated O’Callaghan’s dominant birthday performance with a victory and cupcakes after the game.

Floral Park moves to 5-5 in Conference A-I play following this loss.

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Heroes: O’Callaghan was brilliant against Floral Park on Friday, scattering six hits while striking out 10 and not allowing a single run to score. She also contributed at the plate with two hits and a stolen base.

Brianna Kresback scored two runs on the day including the first run to break a tie game in the bottom of the fifth following a passed ball. Christina Burkley delivered the decisive hit in the bottom of the sixth to give the Gladiators all the run support they would need with O’Callaghan on the mound.

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Turning Point: In a tight game, New Hyde Park struck first when Kresback scored in the bottom of the fifth inning on a passed ball to give the Gladiators a 1-0 lead.

With New Hyde Park holding on to a slim 2-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth, Burkley lined a ball that kicked off of the Floral Park shortstop that scored two more Gladiator runs. New Hyde Park would go on to score another run after O’Callaghan grounded out to third to plate the fifth and final run.

Quotable: New Hyde Park Head Coach Jackie Rizzuti applauded her team’s ability to gather behind O’Callaghan’s dominant pitching performance.

“Our pitching was excellent and the team backed her up,” she said. “It took a little bit of a rocky start to get some runs in but eventually we started hitting and took advantage of a couple of the walks. I think we did an excellent job.”

New Hyde Park drew six walks in the final two innings to aid the five run outburst to seal the victory over Floral Park. After losing their last meeting against Floral Park, Rizzuti said her team “wanted to play and wanted to win and getting back at Floral Park for beating us the last time.”

Key Stats: Strikeouts and walks. O’Callaghan tallied 10 strikeouts on the day in a complete game shutout effort while the New Hyde Park offense was patient enough to draw six walks in the final two innings. With so many runners on base due to their patience, the Gladiators were able to score five runs to secure the win over Floral Park.

Bottom Line: O’Callaghan had a birthday performance to remember both at the plate and on the mound. Her dominant performance combined with New Hyde Park’s stellar defense and patience at the plate equated in the fourth win in Conference A-I play.

What’s Next: New Hyde Park plays Clarke on May 3 on the road.


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