Carson players lead Long Island to title

Carson High graduates Rosette Rough, Margie Foster and Leah Sanchez have all played a prominent role in leading Long Island University to another Northeast Conference title.

Foster, a sophomore, and Rough, a junior, each drove in five runs for Long Island, which clinched its third straight Northeast Conference regular season crown with 11-3 and 8-0 wins over Central Connecticut St. in New Britain, Conn on Tuesday.

The Blackbirds (26-20, 20-0 NEC), winners in 21 of their last 25 contests, have clinched the top seed for the conference tournament and are aiming to become the league's first team to go undefeated. They can achieve that with a sweep of second-place Univesity of Maryland-Baltimore County on Friday at Long Island.

Foster set the tone for the afternoon with a first-inning grand slam home run. Sanchez, a senior, scored on an error in the fifth for a 6-1 lead. The Blackbirds tallied five in the sixth to win by mercy rule. Rough had a two-run double during the rally.

Rough finished 3-for-4.

Rough was the catalyst in game two, lacing a two-run single in the third inning to open the scoring. Senior Tiffany Cooley followed with an RBI single, scoring Rough for a 3-0 lead.

Long Island, which gained an 11-2 hits advantage, doubled the margin in the fifth inning. Rough tripled and scored when a grounder by Cooley was misplayed. Cooley scored on a wild pitch and Foster followed with an RBI single for a 6-0 cushion.

Rough and Cooley added her third RBI of the game in the sixth with a run-scoring double as Long Island won by the mercy rule for the sixth time this season.

Rough, the reigning NEC Player of the Week, finished the day 6-for-8 and is batting .558 (24-for-43) with 16 RBIs during a career-best 12-game hitting streak.

Rough won the NEC Player of the Week award after leading Long Island to a 3-3 week that included Sunday's sweep of Mount St. Mary's. The standout left fielder batted .545 (12-for-22) with two homers, nine RBIs, seven runs and two stolen bases for the Blackbirds, who lost all three of their games by one run.

Rough went 4-for-9 and drove in three runs in 5-4 and 10-9 setbacks to Seton Hall on April 16. She rapped four hits, including two home runs, two days later as Long Island split a doubleheader with St. Peter's.

Against Mount St. Mary's, Rough went 4-for-6 with a double, a triple, two runs and three RBIs as the Blackbirds posted 4-0 and 6-0 shutouts.

An all-conference choice in 2001, Rough also had stolen 20 bases in as many attempts and ranked second on the team with a .324 batting average before Tuesday. She was hitting .404 in conference games before Tuesday.