Sports

NYSAISAA softball final preview

Freshman Mia Farinelli of Horace Mann pitched a gem against Poly the first time the teams played. (Denis GOSTEV)

New York Post softball beat writer Marc Raimondi breaks down the NYSAISAA championship game between No. 1 Poly Prep and No. 2 Horace Mann, set for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Manhattanville College in Westchester.

No. 1 Poly Prep Blue Devils

Head coach: Mildred Piscopo

Record: 14-0

Player to watch: Victoria Capozucca

No. 2 Horace Mann Lions

Head coach: Ray Barile

Record: 11-3

Player to watch: Lauren DelPrete

Outlook: If there’s one thing about Horace Mann it’s that the Lions will not be surprised by anything Poly Prep does on Wednesday. They have played the Blue Devils twice and the first meeting they only lost, 1-0.

“Now we’ve seen [Poly ace Victoria Capozucca] twice,” star shortstop Lauren DelPrete said. “We know we’re just as strong as them.”

It’s hard for Mann not to be confident. The Lions were on the brink of elimination in the semifinals Monday, down 4-2 to Holy Child heading to the seventh inning when they found some late-game magic. DelPrete capped a wild, three-run inning with a walk-off RBI single to score Clara Hill, who went 4-for-4 in the game.

“My team is so tough,” DelPrete said.

Poly Prep, on the other hand, has not really been tested. The Blue Devils beat Convent of the Sacred Heart, 10-0, in the quarterfinals and knocked off Hackley, 6-0, in the semifinals Monday.

But what the Blue Devils do have is Capozucca, one of the top pitchers in New York City. She not only tossed a perfect game against Hackley and shut out Sacred Heart, she had two-run doubles in both games, providing her own run support.

There’s also something else that comes with Capozucca: winning. Since she came up to the varsity on eighth grade, Poly has not lost an Ivy League game and has won an unprecedented five straight regular-season titles. If the Blue Devils win Wednesday it’ll be a record fifth straight NYSAISAA title.

The coach said some of her players were rooting for a rematch against Mann, but Piscopo knows the old saying: it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season – especially when the first meeting was just 1-0. But the second time around, Poly won 9-2 and that’s the one she wants her players thinking about when they arrive at Manhattanville College.

“I feel good about that, the kids feel good about that,” Piscopo said. “It’s fresh on their minds.”

But an incredible, come-from-behind win against Holy Child is fresh in the Horace Mann players’ minds, too.

“I think we can do it,” Hill said of beating Poly. “I think we’re ready for it.”

mraimondi@nypost.com