‘Second leadoff hitter’ Kerri Gunther lifts Sayville softball over Islip

The Sayville softball team has one of the toughest lineups in Suffolk from top to bottom.

Coach Tiffany Rowan calls her No. 9 hitter, Kerri Gunther, “our second lead-off.” One thing for Gunther, she’s not your typical “little league” 9-hitter.

On Tuesday, Gunther might as well have been the Golden Flashes’ clean-up. The senior outfielder delivered a key two-out, two-run single as host Sayville topped Islip, 2-1, in a thrilling Suffolk League V game.

“I’ve always been a 9-hitter. I’ve never been a power hitter. I just look to hit solid, line drives,” Gunther said. “I don’t doubt myself, because coach put me in the lineup. She could have chosen someone else, but she didn’t, she chose me.”

Rowan added: “We were very confident when Kerri was up.”

Islip pitcher Dominique Prevette stymied a Sayville lineup through four innings and had not allowed a hit. She walked one. The Golden Flashes (6-0, 6-0 Suffolk V) had averaged 13.6 runs per game and had outscored its opponents, 68-3, before Tuesday.

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But Prevette (nine strikeouts) walked the first two batters she faced in the fifth inning. After a strikeout, Amanda Acker put down a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third with two outs. Gunther got ahead in the count, 2-and-0, but Prevette battled back to make it 2-and-2.

“We had a game plan to crowd the plate,” Gunther said. “I knew the next pitch was going to be away.”

She was right. Gunter reached out on a curveball and sent a bloop single into short rightfield that plated two runs. Prevette allowed another single — the only two hits she allowed on the afternoon — to Mallory Kinahan, but she got out of the threat for Islip (7-1, 5-1).

Her counterpart, Catherine Meyers (nine strikeouts), allowed a first-inning run when Prevette doubled home Kaeli McNally, singled to open the game. (It was just the fourth run allowed by Sayville this season.)

“[Sayville] did all the little things today,” Islip coach Dennis McSweeney said. “They got the bunt down and the timely hit. My pitcher was unbelievable . . . but give Sayville credit.”

The game featured the top two teams in Suffolk V, as well as Suffolk Class A. They meet again to end the regular season on June 7 at Islip.

“This says a lot about our team,” Meyers said. “We’re always ready to play.”

Top to bottom.