East Islip took its final turn at-bat trailing by five runs but looked poised to pull off a comeback.

A close pitch on a full count with one out didn’t go East Islip’s way, resulting in a strikeout. The runners on first and second drifted too far off the bases and a back pickoff to first doubled the runner off, washing away East Islip’s chances at extending its best season in program history.

Clarkstown South (Section I) defeated East Islip, 8-7, in a state Class AA softball quarterfinal at Martha Ave. Park in Bellport on Saturday.

“We’re East Islip, we don’t stop until the game’s over,” shortstop Lexi Kneisel said. “It doesn’t matter how late in the game it gets, we’re going to keep fighting as hard as possible.”

A light on-and-off drizzle through most of the game turned to a steady light shower at the start of the seventh inning. Valentina Luciano drew a walk to drive in the third run of the inning for the Vikings and extend their lead to 8-3. Cate Ropiak induced two pop-ups to get out of the inning.

Kneisel walked with one out in the bottom of the seventh for East Islip and scored on Reagan O’Hara’s single. Kayla Varga followed with a three-run home run to cut the deficit to 8-7.

“I wanted to jump on something early and help my team out,” Varga said. “I wanted to come up clutch and help the team get closer to pulling the game out.”

After a short rain delay, Ropiak walked and Clarkstown South made a pitching change. Alyssa Corso walked to push the tying run into scoring position before the double play ended the game.

“This was a special group, winning the program’s first Long Island title,” East Islip coach Jason McGowan said. “But we weren’t done yet, this team wasn’t supposed to be done yet.”

Clarkstown South (22-2) scored two runs in the first inning and three runs in the second inning. East Islip (20-8) loaded the bases in the fourth and scored three runs on Sophia Corso’s walk and Kneisel’s double.

“We weren’t at the top of our game today,” Kneisel said. “We’ve hit good pitchers all year long, but struggled to execute today. We started to hit more as the game went on but couldn’t get the big one we needed.”

East Islip fielded a team with no seniors and earned the first LI title in program history with a win over Glen Cove.

“To make history with no seniors and a freshman pitcher is something I don’t know if we thought was possible,” Varga said. “This was a great season and a great run. We’ll be back.”