Lab Museum United is so young and so exuberant that the Gators might not even realize the scope of what they have accomplished.
After a semifinals victory Thursday, assistant coach Anthony D’Amico pumped the team up by saying “Sunday, we’re going to the Big Dance!” But the girls were a tad confused.
“What are we going to wear?” one worried player asked.
Of course, D’Amico was talking about the championship.
No. 7 Lab Museum earned a finals berth with an 11-3 win against No. 5 Jamaica in a PSAL Class B semifinal elimination game Thursday at John Bowne HS in Flushing. LMU, which has 15 freshmen and sophomores, will have to beat top-seed LaGuardia twice Sunday at St. John’s University to earn its first title.
“It’s incredible,” sophomore pitcher Sarah D’Amico (Anthony’s daughter) said. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me. It’s incredible to be a part of it. We’re so young, it’s ridiculous. It’s so exciting for all of us.”
The Gators (16-3) are a happy, fun-loving group. But between the lines, they have done nothing but take care of business. After Jamaica (17-3) took a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning on a two-RBI double by Racheal Ali, LMU responded with four runs in the sixth and then six more in the seventh. Coach Charles Jessup said a similar thing happened in a 3-1 loss Wednesday to LaGuardia.
“We made visual adjustments and we were able to connect,” he said.
Sophomore Ashanti Plummer and senior Diamond Diaz had RBI singles in the fifth and sophomore Jennifer Ramirez crushed a long, two-run double in the sixth. Jamaica seemed to run out of gas in the heat after having three games and a prom this week.
And once again D’Amico threw a gem. The right-hander gave up three runs, two earned, on six hits in a complete-game effort.
“They seemed like they were getting tired,” D’Amico said. “We’re so high spirited. We didn’t get tired. We got even more energized.”
That was even more amazing considering Lab Museum got to the field 40 minutes early and got in a nice practice before the game. Jessup, who lives nearby, scouted out the field Wednesday night and was happy it was turf – like LMU’s home, Chelsea Park. He’s no stranger to Bowne either. Jessup graduated from adjacent Queens College and was a substitute teacher at the Flushing high school.
“They were determined,” he said.
Perhaps playing there was a good omen for LMU. Bowne was the last team to earn a ‘B’ title by winning two games in the championship series when the Wildcats topped Franklin K. Lane in 2006.
It’ll be Lab Museum United’s first appearance in a championship – an impressive feat considering the Gators were 0-15 in 2007. The two schools in the West 17th Street building – Lab and Museum – have come together to produce a potential champion.
Lab focuses on collaborative learning, while Museum’s classroom instruction is reinforced with museum-based projects. Softball has brought the pair of schools into the city’s athletics consciousness. After games, the players huddle up and chant, “Two schools, one team, one dream!”
That dream, of course, is winning the PSAL Class B title. Then the Gators can dance all they want.
“We recognize it’s so incredible,” D’Amico said. “But we love to have fun.”