Uniondale - If at the beginning of the season the Hampton Bays softball team was presented with a guarantee to reach the Long Island final even if they ran a good chance of losing, it just might have signed up. The Lady Baymen were relatively young and without a quintet of starters who produced many of the memories from the previous run to the Class B Long Island title.

Hampton Bays senior pitcher Ali Hultberg picked up 17 wins on the mound this season but couldn't solve Carle Place.

That they were underdogs to repeat, that many didn't think they'd get there, didn't take away from the heartache on Wednesday at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale. In seven hard-fought innings, Hampton Bays was outdueled by the very team it beat at this stage a year ago, falling 7-0 to the Lady Frogs of Carle Place.

With the Class B field down to just a handful of teams in the state, Head Coach Dave Goodman knew they were all good ones and only an efficient effort would suffice.

"We had to play one of those mistake-free games, just putting up zeroes, and I thought we'd find a way to scratch out a run here or there," Goodman said. "Every kind of bounce didn't go our way today."

For the second straight year, Hampton Bays ran away with the League VII title and qualified for the Long Island title game by stunning rival Babylon, this time with one-run wins in the bookend games of the Suffolk County Class B championship series. The Lady Baymen repeated as county titlists despite graduating four players who competed at the college level this year and a fifth, Genna Kovar, who could have but opted to play field hockey at Hofstra.

"We overachieved," senior catcher Marissa Raimo said. "It was good. We wanted to go all the way, but nobody expected [we'd get this far]."

Hampton Bays senior Kait Cooper takes a cut at an Ashley Cole during the Long Island title game.

The Lady Baymen offense struggled to make solid contact against Frog ace Ashley Cole, who has had dynamite freshman season and continued that on Wednesday. Cole, the starter at second base for last year's Long Island runners-up, struck out 14 hitters on the day, including a stretch of six straight in her first time through the order. She took a perfect game into the fifth but was met with a Monica O'Connor opposite-field double to lead off the inning; it was the only extra-base hit by either team in the game. Pinch-hitter Morgan Orego roped a one-out single to right in the seventh but Carle Place was already in celebration mode by then.

"You have to give the girl credit," Goodman said of Cole. "Even [Babylon's Amanda] McKay never did this to us (pointing to the scorebook). This girl was probably the best one we faced all year. We just couldn't generate anything."

Carle Place's early-inning threats were quelled by sound pitching and defense. In the first, the Frogs put runners at the corners with two down. No. 5 hitter Joanne Barilla stepped in and ripped a grounder to short that Grace Guarino gobbled up and threw across the diamond to retire the side. Carle Place did scratch two runs in the second, but Marissa Raimo prevented more by fielding a throw from center field and threw a dart to Megan Pecoraro at third to pick off Tori Hytell. Hampton Bays was still within striking distance when Hultberg reared back and struck out Alison Laga to leave the bases loaded in the third.

Eventually though, the Lady Frogs pulled away, scoring five runs over the next two innings to all but make it a formality that Hampton Bays would be dethroned. Cole made it official with a two-strikeout seventh. In total, Carle Place, which was knocked off in the regional final later in the day, piled up 10 hits and waited out six walks over its six turns at bat. The Frogs also took advantage of the five Lady Bayman mishaps. "It's a shame because we've played a lot better than that," Goodman said. "You started seeing plays certain kids make all the time not being made and then it just starts rolling downhill."

The loss marked the end of the careers of three seniors - Raimo, Hultberg and first baseman Kait Cooper. Goodman said that Hultberg and Raimo, this year's battery, will be particularly difficult to replace. Hultberg will play softball at Philadelphia University next year while Raimo will take her game to Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.

"They've shown the kids how to work hard, how to play in the offseason but still help the basketball team and help the field hockey team," Goodman said. "Marissa and Ali have been offensively and defensively special. They're the heart and soul of this team and they're what made us where we are as far as the standings."

CARLE PLACE 7, HAMPTON BAYS 0
Long Island Class B championship; at Mitchel Athletic Complex, Uniondale
HAMPTON BAYS 000 000 0 – 0 2 5
CARLE PLACE 020 230 X - 7 10 0
HB, Ali Hultberg and Marissa Raimo; CP, Ashley Cole and Leanne Iannucci. WP – Cole; LP – Hultberg. 2B – HB, Monica O'Connor.
Records: Hampton Bays 19-5; Carle Place 17-8.