Softball: Gunsett, Del Salto help Marlboro beat Roosevelt, Pine Plains for MHAL title
HIGHLAND - The weight felt almost unbearable for Leah Gunsett, who already had shouldered so much. Eager to be relieved of the pressure, the Marlboro pitcher turned to her teammates and asked for the burden to be lifted.
“It’s heavy!” the senior said Monday, a bag of ice by then strapped to her shoulder. “That’s real gold.”
And they’ve got John Devenuto to blame for that.
Seeking an upgrade of the Burger King cardboard crown that used to be awarded to their standouts, the softball team last winter consulted the high school technology teacher for help creating a small pendant that would bear the Iron Dukes logo and easily be attached to a necklace.
He went to work with a 3D printer. And, well, it was like the opposite of ordering jewelry online: the product delivered was considerably larger than the thumbnail suggested. Teammate Mia Verdi then bedazzled it, adding multicolored rhinestones to replicate a dancing diamonds effect, and it soon was attached to a thick gold-plated chain.
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It’s ostentatious enough to fit the aesthetic of a throwback Cash Money music video. And, for the team, it’s perfect.
“Now,” Gunsett joked, “we’re blingy!”
Their golden hour came once the sun had set, after Gunsett tossed her second complete game of the evening, leading Marlboro to a second straight Mid Hudson Athletic League title.
Emma Jackson drove in three runs and Kiera Del Salto went 3 for 4 and scored twice in the Iron Dukes’ 11-3 win over Pine Plains in the final at Tony Williams Park in Highland. They matched the Marlboro baseball team, which won its MHAL championship last Saturday.
Gunsett allowed an earned run and struck out five, and she was 2 for 4 with an RBI, earning the Player of the Game(s) chain that was presented by coach Andrea Schoonmaker.
“It brings a lot of energy to the dugout,” the right-hander said. “When someone does something good, we’re like, ‘They’re getting the chain!’ We don’t do it just for that, but it’s a fun thing.”
Call it a chain reaction. Although Gunsett wore it only for a minute before handing it to a teammate. Can't have the pitcher getting torticollis before the playoffs.
“This is one of the things we wanted to accomplish, just like we did last year,” said senior Kalista Birkenstock, who stole two bases in the first inning, including the 100th of her career. “We want to have that kind of success, just with a different result in the last game.”
She was referring to Marlboro reaching the state final last season and, to this point, looking just as dominant.
Del Salto drove in three and Gunsett fanned 12 in the Dukes' 9-1 win over Franklin D. Roosevelt in the semifinal. The tournament initially was scheduled to begin last Saturday morning, but inclement weather forced a postponement of the semifinals to 4 p.m. Monday, with the final following almost immediately.
“It’s tough playing games back-to-back, but they pulled together and did well,” Schoonmaker said. “It was close for a while in both games, but we believe in our offense, and they came through.”
This tournament is somewhat of a bragging-rights exhibition in that each of the teams advance to their respective Section 9 playoffs, regardless of the outcome. But it’s no less meaningful to the players, and it offers a gauge of how teams stack up against some of the better opponents in other classifications.
Marlboro, which has won the previous three Class B section titles, is competing this season in Class A. Roosevelt, the champion in that class last spring, now is among the contending teams in Class AA. A decisive victory over that team, certainly, is a flex of their might.
“We just look at them as talented opponents,” said Birkenstock, whose team has faced eight large-school opponents. “We approach all of them the same.”
Including Pine Plains, a Class C team with a roster full of fledglings that gave the Dukes a momentary scare.
After Emily Hile’s RBI single put them up 4-0 in the fourth inning, the Bombers rallied for three in the fifth. Eliza Baden hit an RBI single, and a subsequent error allowed another run to score, pulling Pine Plains within one. They threatened for more, but Gunsett escaped a bases-loaded jam.
That’s when she made another handoff to her teammates, relying on the offense to ease the pressure.
The Dukes answered with six in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by Lily Sullivan’s two-run single and Jackson’s three-run double.
“We were challenged, and that’s a good thing,” Sullivan said. “It’s helpful that we weren’t just able to get a couple runs early and coast; we really had to play.”
Sullivan was 2 for 3 with two runs, Hite went 2 for 4 with two RBI and Kaitlyn Gordon and Taylor Castellani each drove in a run for Marlboro (15-3). Birkenstock was 2 for 3 with two runs and, along with the steals, she has eclipsed 100 hits and runs scored. “I just want to do as many things as I can to contribute,” the Florida Gulf Coast commit said.
That was plenty of support for Gunsett, who struck out the side in the sixth. She complemented a well-spotted fastball with a changeup and curveball that kept both opponents off balance.
“Our performance is definitely encouraging because we had trouble scoring in a couple games before this,” Gunsett said of her team totaling three runs in two non-league losses last week. "Going into sectionals, we needed to get back on track and get the energy up.”
Quite the chain of events.
‘We can handle this’
The day was almost as heartening for Pine Plains as the young squad, loaded with underclassmen, pulled off a dramatic comeback in their semifinal against Spackenkill. They rallied from an early six-run deficit and eventually scored four in the bottom of the seventh for a walkoff 10-9 victory.
Talia Durant surrendered no earned runs and struck out eight in 4⅔ innings of relief, allowing Pine Plains its late surge, which was capped by Peyton Burton scoring the winning run on a wild pitch. Abbey Mayes went 3 for 4, Burton was 2 for 3, and Brooke Sikula and Millie Molella each doubled for the Bombers (13-5).
With a team so young, this figured to be a rebuilding season for Pine Plains, but this group might be ahead of schedule in its development. They’ll be in pursuit of their first section title since 2021.
“With a young team, a week before sectionals, it’s really encouraging to see,” coach Les Funk said of his team, which includes five starters still in middle school. “To have a comeback like that builds confidence and gives them an experience they can refer to. If we’re in a playoff game and we’re behind, they can look back and say, ‘We can handle this. We’ve done it before.’”
Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Softball: Gunsett, Del Salto help Marlboro repeat as MHAL champion
