Brookly/Queens champions Molloy pose with their awards. (robert cole)
It was a play that Alanna Gallagher had in her back pocket, but she wasn’t able to use it during the regular season.
However, with runners at second and third with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning of the Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan title game, the Archbishop Molloy third baseman figured there was no time like the present.
The senior fielded a groundball by St. Francis Prep catcher Vicky Slavik, pump-faked a throw to first and saw Kayla Ward charging home.
Gallagher fired home, catcher Gabby Basile chased Ward back to third and shortstop Marissa Puzino applied the tag. The Stanners held on to beat the rival Terriers, 7-6, to sweep the best-of-three series and win a third consecutive CHSAA Brookyn/Queens Diocesan softball title at Queens College Wednesday afternoon.
“I’ve never felt anything better,” Gallagher said. “That was great. It was really awesome.”
It was a sterling defensive play by Gallagher, who made up for an error in the sixth inning that led to St Francis Prep (13-2) scoring the tying run.
Molloy coach Maureen Rosenbaum told Gallagher to relax, that there were plenty of other players making mistakes. In fact, the Stanners had four errors on the game.
But when Molloy (15-0), ranked No. 3 in the CHSAA by The Post, needed a big defensive play, Gallagher delivered, even surprising Rosenbaum.
“I thought she’d be too nervous in a big game to use it,” Rosenbaum said. “But she’s a senior, she stayed composed and I’m very proud of her.”
The Stanners capitalized on the international tiebreaker rule, which allows a team to start an extra inning with the player who made the last out in the previous inning at second. Gallagher sacrificed Jackie Perillo to third and Kristen Ponticelli drove her in with a groundout to second for what proved to be the winning run.
No. 4 St. Francis Prep had Kayla Ward at second to start the bottom of the eight and leadoff hitter Danielle Cervasio reached on an error. A successful sacrifice by Kerri Surdi moved both runners into scoring position with just one out.
But then Ward bit on Gallagher’s fake and took off for home.
“She has never been in a situation like that in an international tiebreaker. We never practice international tiebreakers and she got overwhelmed,” St. Francis Prep coach Ann Marie Rich said. “You tell her all the scenarios that could possibly happen. She felt absolutely horrible that she got caught in that rundown, but we learn from our mistakes and we move forward.”
Had it not been for stellar relief from Victoria Goldbach, Gallagher probably wouldn’t be in the situation to make a decisive defensive play. Replacing an ineffective Maria Palmeri, who allowed five runs on three hits, striking out four with seven walks in 3-2/3 innings, the junior allowed one run on one hit, striking out four in 4-1/3 innings to earn the win.
Goldbach also went the distance in a 7-2 Game 1 victory Monday afternoon.
“I was just really focused,” Goldbach said. “I wanted to end it, I wanted to win. I was just concentrating on every single batter, every pitch.”
Molloy, which has won 13 of the last 14 games against rival St. Francis Prep, has precious little time to celebrate another BQ crown. That’s because they’ll head to Staten Island Thursday to meet Archdiocesan champion Moore Catholic for the CHSAA city title. The Stanners last city crown came in 2007 when they beat the Mavericks.