Sports

Rivals Hill, McFarland share softball Wingate Award

One had three hits, including the one that eventually scored the game-winning run in the PSAL Class A city championship. The other put forth an incredible pitching performance into the 10th inning.

Two players that have met in three of the last four softball titles games, Tottenville center fielder Victoria McFarland and James Madison pitcher Kayla Hill sat at the same table Monday night at St. Francis College in Brooklyn. Each shared the PSAL Wingate Award, given annually to the top senior in a given sport.

Though the rivalry between their two teams has been at times bitter, McFarland and Hill laughed and joked like old friends during the dinner.

“I don’t think it’s strange,” McFarland said. “She’s a great player. She’s great to split the award with.”

The pair actually spent some time together during the NYC Mayor’s Cup senior all-star game two weeks ago. McFarland warmed Hill up so the ace could return to the game in the ninth inning to close out a 6-2 win for the PSAL. Hill was the most valuable player of that contest with 12 strikeouts in five innings and McFarland, of course, had an RBI.

When the two faced each other in the title game, the Albany-bound McFarland got the better of the exchange with three hits. She said she and her Tottenville teammates practiced facing the outside pitch, which the Pace-bound Hill has been very successful with.

“She’s pretty intimidating, so I have to stay focused,” Hill said. “I know it’s not going to be easy.”

But though McFarland went 3-for-5, she never came around to score and her hit only scored Samantha Mattsson from first due to a misplay in the outfield. Hill gave up only that unearned run through 9-2/3 innings, scattered eight hits, walked just two, left the bases loaded once and stranded two on twice.

“We always do enough because we have Kayla Hill,” Madison coach Jeff Meltzer said during the playoffs. “What can I say? I think [when it’s] 0-0 we’re leading.”

The two will forever be linked. McFarland won PSAL city titles as a freshman and a sophomore. Hill led Madison to the Promised Land as a junior and McFarland’s Tottenville squad took the championship back to Staten Island last month.

There didn’t seem to be much of a rivalry Monday night, the two best players in the city sitting alongside one another chatting it up.

“We talked the whole time,” Hill said. “It wasn’t just about softball, it was about everything.”

mraimondi@nypost.com