Softball: Gillen, White Plains exorcise demons en route to Section 1 Class AA final

FREEDOM PLAINS - Scenes from that unforgettable day have replayed repeatedly in Serena Gillen’s mind for almost a year. And not by choice.

“The way we lost, that kind of heartbreak, I couldn’t get over it,” the White Plains softball standout said. “I thought about it a lot.”

The Tigers were a strike away from victory in the quarterfinals but Arlington’s Catherine Kelly, the harbinger of that heartbreak, crushed a tying two-run homer. An eventual 10th-inning walkoff ended White Plains’ season and created for the young pitcher those haunting memories.

They rushed back to her last weekend when the team learned that Arlington would again stand in its path.

The word she searched for on Tuesday was “catharsis.”

“This,” the ninth-grader said, “is like when you have a weight on your shoulders, and you can finally let it go.”

Because it was the Tigers this time who rallied from down two runs late, and Gillen was the hero, as White Plains went on to upset top-seeded Arlington, 5-3, earning a berth in the Section 1 Class AA final.

“I remember last year vividly, and the feeling right now is the exact opposite,” shortstop Alexa Galligani said. “It’s an amazing feeling, especially for our pitcher.”

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Fifth-seeded White Plains will face No. 3 North Rockland in the final on Saturday, 10:30 a.m. at North Rockland High School.

“We’re happy right now, but we’re not content,” Gillen said. “The goal has always been a title. We’re in the position to make that happen and we’re gonna go after it.”

What it means

White Plains blew a five-run lead and lost to Ketcham in its regular-season finale, which led to a seeding shakeup that saw them drop to fifth in the bracket.

That, Galligani said, wasn’t such a bad thing.

“It was a little extra motivation; we knew we’d have to fight in the postseason anyway,” the South Florida-bound senior said. “Sometimes it’s good to be an underdog."

And this has been somewhat of a revenge tour. White Plains edged Ketcham in the quarterfinals, then cleansed its palette of that Admiral aftertaste. The Tigers, seeking their first championship, will face a North Rockland team they beat 6-1 last month.

White Plains last reached the final in 2019 — topping Arlington in the semifinals then, too — but was stumped by John Jay-East Fishkill. They’re obviously hoping for a different outcome.

Turning point

The Admirals took a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning on Shannon Burke’s RBI single and Allie Cubberly’s subsequent triple — a near home run that nicked off the fence in center.

White Plains answered with two in the sixth after loading the bases with none out. Sasha Persaud’s sacrifice fly scored Ava Galligani and Gillen, who had reached with an infield single, eventually scored the tying run on a wild-ish pitch.

With two outs, Alyssa Liguori bounced a breaking ball that deflected off the catcher and rolled only a few feet toward the first base line. But Gillen, daringly, broke for home and scored as the pitcher and catcher ran to retrieve the ball.

“As I’m running, I’m thinking, ‘If I don’t score, I just really messed up,'” she said. “Once I got in safely, we were back in it. I told myself I can’t make any more mistakes; can’t leave any pitch hanging.”

Using her curveball and changeup effectively, she quickly recorded the final six outs... although there was a momentary scare in the sixth inning.

Kelly drilled a pitch to center that, off the bat, many in attendance thought would be another heartbreak homer. But the ball was caught at the fence by Ryleigh Falvey.

“If that had gone out,” Kelly quipped afterwards, “I might’ve lost my mind.”

Instead, the Tigers scored twice in the seventh. Alexa Galligana led off with a double and, after Peri Kahn walked, Kiersten Hardy lined a single to center for the go-ahead run. Kahn later scored from third on Gillen’s groundout for the 5-3 lead.

“We go into the bottom of the seventh up by two, which is the same situation as last year,” Gillen said. “Now, with almost the same team, we picked ourselves up.”

By the numbers

Arlington (17-5) — Burke went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI, and Sara Anderson was 1 for 2 with a walk. Morgan Pepe homered to give the Admirals a 1-0 lead in the second. She also had a strikeout in a hitless inning of relief. Liguori allowed six hits and three walks and struck out eight in six innings.

White Plains (20-3) — Gillen allowed eight hits and a walk and struck out seven in a complete game. She also went 2 for 4 with a double, a run and an RBI. Alexa Galligani was 2 for 4 with a run, and Kahn’s walk with the bases loaded tied it at 1 in the fifth. Bella Cummings was hit by a pitch, walked and scored.

Quotables

“We had some loud outs and a couple near home runs that went off the fence,” Arlington coach Dave Ballantyne said. “It was a matchup of great teams and we might’ve won with a couple breaks in our favor. But take nothing from White Plains, they’re resilient and did a great job.”

“She thinks she let the team down, but that’s not the case,” he said of Liguori. “She left her heart in the circle.”

“It’s back to work tomorrow,” Alexa Galligani said of the three days to prepare for the final. “We’ve got a mission and it’s not complete yet.”

Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4

This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Softball: Gillen, White Plains top Arlington in Section 1 semifinals