Molloy coach Maureen Rosenbaum inserted Victoria Goldbach into the circle in the third inning to control the pace of the game against a St. Joseph by the Sea order that had already scored four times. It didn’t take long before that happened as the game became stuck in the neutral with the first batter she faced.
“As soon as you get in, that was a tough one,” Goldbach said.
Vikings cleanup hitter Laura Leone wouldn’t give in. She fouled off nine straight pitches, many into the woods along the left side of the field, before finally straightening a ball out for a double off the fence in left. It was one of the few real blemishes in the sophomore’s four innings of work in Archbishop Molloy’s 8-0 six-inning, run-rule loss to St. Joseph by the Sea in the CHSAA softball city championship game at Moore Catholic Tuesday.
“I couldn’t even mix it up because the count was three and two, so I couldn’t throw something and make her chase it,” Goldbach said.
Added Leone: “She wasn’t giving me anything good. I was just like, I am going to wait.”
After ace Maria Palmeri allowed four runs on six hits in the first two innings, Goldbach surrendered five hits, walked a batter and struck out three. The Vikings (19-0) scored a run in the third and three more in the sixth without a RBI hit. She held the Vikings scoreless in the fifth despite a leadoff single. It is the third straight solid postseason outing for Goldbach.
“I thought we would get a little bit further with Maria, but her pace with their pace [doesn’t] match,” said Rosenbaum, who wanted to use Goldbach at some point. “[Goldbach] is more patient. She is able to slow the game down.”
Unfortunately for Molloy (15-2) it couldn’t do the same to Sea. The Stanners managed just two hits against ace Amanda Barrese, but did hit some balls hard. Molloy stranded a runner at second with two outs in the first and had runners at first and second with one away in the fourth but could not score.
“It’s a different level of play,” Rosenbaum said of facing the Archdiocesan champs. “I think we are at that level, but we need to hit better
The Vikings beat Molloy, 4-3, in last season’s CHSAA state semifinal and again 10-2 in five innings earlier this season. It could meet them again in the state final June 1 at SUNY Old Westbury. The Stanners play the Buffalo representative in the semis.
“I think we can still beat them,” Goldbach said. “They are a good team, but we can give them a better game than we’ve been giving them. We made a lot of mental mistakes that we can definitely fix.”