Warriors Walk Away with Walk-off Win over Devils
DALTON, Mass. -- The Drury softball team definitely knows how to play Wahconah. It just hasn't figured out a way to beat the Warriors yet.After narrowly losing to Wahconah 7-6 at the beginning of the month, the Blue Devils nearly knocked off the Warriors again on Thursday, losing 3-2, however, when sophomore Gabby Lavinio drove home Bizzy King with a shot down the left-field line with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
After falling behind by a run, Drury (12-7) came back to take the lead with two runs in top of the fifth frame. Sophomore Amanda Ramsdell reached base on Wahconah starter Sam Burgner's only walk of the night. She then moved over on junior Olivia Koperek's bunt to third base, which ended scoring both Ramsdell and Koperek when the Warriors (19-1) made two throwing errors on the play.
Wahconah then tied the game in the bottom half of the fifth when senior Sara Hamilton drove in Lavinio with an RBI single to left field. The Blue Devils had a great chance to retake the lead in the top of the seventh when Koperek led things off with a triple. She was thrown out at home on the next play, though, on a sharply hit ball to short by Ali Tatro. Drury hopes of scoring died shortly after that when Tatro was caught trying to steal second base.
King reached on a single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. She then advanced to second base on a wild pitch before coming home on Lavinio's hit to left.
"Although this was a hard-fought game, it could have been even better had we not left our bats and hitting shoes at home," Blue Devils head coach Mary Ann Maroni said. "Sam Burgner had our number tonight by striking out 11 batters. She got us to chase both her riseball and her changeup. Our defense was very sharp today. We only gave up three runs on eight hits by Wahconah, but our offense did not support the cause."
Burgner was stellar from the circle, allowing just three Drury hits and one walk in a complete-game performance. Blue Devils starter Cat Record struck out two batters and walked one through seven innings of work to take the loss.
Drury closes out the regular season with a home game against Agawam at 2 p.m. on Friday.