Sports

Panthers Red enjoy successful summer, win state championship

The New York Panthers Red travel softball team finished the summer as the state’s top club in their first season as a 16-and-under team.

The Panthers, whose roster consisted of players from St. Joseph by the Sea, Tottenville, McKee/Staten Island Tech, Petrides and Riverdale, finished the year with the No. 1 USSSA Fast Pitch 16U ‘A’ ranking in New York State, the No. 3 spot in Region 1 and were ranked No. 22 nationally after two losses in the USSSA World Series in Ocean City, Md. earlier this week.

“They are a first year 16U team and did really well,” manager Greg Palmieri said. “Next year we are hoping to win all the ones we didn’t win this year.”

The squad won the USSSA New York State Championship and the USSSA L.I. Invitational College Showcase and posted an overall record of 29-10. The Panthers have played together the last four years, won 200 games and also finished fifth in the country, out of over 150 teams, in last year’s 14U USSSA World Series in Florida, Palmieri said.

“My lineup from four-and-a-half years ago is probably basically the same lineup as it was the last game I played last week,” the coach said said.

Down in Ocean City, they fell in 10 innings to the New Era Diamond Girls, 10-9, after Tottenville’s Jillian Regan homered in the top the seventh to give the Panthers the lead. They then lost to the Delaware Diamonds, 6-2, to finish the tournament with a 5-2 mark. The rotation, which featured Sea’s Amanda Bassano and Shannon Damon and MSIT’s Blayse Halvorsen, only gave up five runs in the first five games of the USSSA World Series with help from a strong defense.

Regan, an All-City first team selection by The Post last year, was part of a versatile lineup that liked to play small ball. She helped beat the Dutchess Debs, 3-1, in the state final. Palmieri’s daughter Melanie, a standout at Petrides, led the team in runs scored from the second spot in the batting order. Sea’s Vanessa Jioia and Kacie Rosa and Tottenville’s Stefanie Abolt all came up big in the Panthers run to the New York State title. Sea’s Victoria Matrangolo, Stephanie Tufano and Kristin Nunez and Riverdale’s Madison Kahn also contributed.

“It’s hard to lose, but they played so well,” Palmieri said of falling in the final two games. … “We had a very successful season. It wasn’t [just] Regan or [just] our pitchers that shut the girls down. It was the other girls that really carried us.”

jstaszewski@nypost.com