Taconic Uses Late Rally to Put Away Wahconah

DALTON, Mass. – It took Taconic’s Toni Ahoussie one pitch and one swing to completely change the tone of Saturday’s game at Wahconah.

 

The Thunder went into the top of the seventh with a 4-3 lead.

 

But singles by Nina Maloney, Abby Soto and Madi Barber loaded the bases with two out for Taconic and brought Ahoussie to the plate.

 

She then crushed a double to center field that cleared the bases and sent Taconic on to a 7-3 win, a season sweep of Wahconah and Taconic’s fifth victory in six games.

 

“She’s been struggling,” Taconic coach Bree Goddard said of Ahoussie. “She’s been in a slump. So I kept saying to her, ‘Wait for it, wait for it.’ She’s always trying to swing for the fence, and I said there’s no fence here, there’s no fence to swing for. Just hit the ball.”

 

In that, Ahoussie benefited from Friday’s and Saturday morning’s rain, which made Wahconah’s varsity field at Pine Grove Park, which does have fences, unplayable and moved the game to the JV field on the other end of the park.

 

Ahoussie ended up going 3-for-4 with four RBIs to lead a 13-hit attack for Taconic.

 

“Yeah, she came out of that slump,” Goddard said with a smile. It’s great.”

 

Cheyann Goddard earned the win in the circle, striking out just three but walking just one and getting flawless defense behind her.

 

“We have a pretty solid defense,” Bree Goddard said. “Our pitchers know that their defense is there to back them up. Our outfield is amazing. They save so many runs, so many hits. Our infield is great as well. I move girls around. They play great wherever I put them.”

 

Fittingly, the game ended on a defensive gem as Chey Goddard stabbed a line drive up the middle and threw to Ahoussie at first base to double off a runner.

 

“They made a couple of really good defensive plays,” Wahconah coach Dustin Belcher said. “I thought that was the difference in the game. They made more plays than we made. But, at the same time, they also got the big hit. They had a couple of players come up in big spots and get the big hit.

 

“So credit to them. They were the better team.”

 

Wahconah took the early lead by manufacturing two runs in the bottom of the first.

 

Sammie Kaley led off with a single and scored on Harper Keay’s triple to right field. Key then came home on Kenadi Arnhold’s sacrifice fly to give Wahconah a 2-0 lead.

 

In the second, Wahconah tacked on a run when Marlee Arnhold led off with a double, moved up on a groundout from Mariah Barnes and scored on Madison McCarthy’s sacrifice bunt to make it 3-0.

 

“We didn’t ever string anything together,” Belcher said of Wahconah’s offense. “We had a couple of sacrifices in there. I just didn’t feel like we got to string a couple of hits together.”

 

The rest of the way, Goddard allowed just one more runner past first base, when Wahconah got first and second with two out in the bottom of the sixth trailing by a run.

 

That time, Goddard stepped up with an inning-ending strikeout to preserve the lead.

 

That lead came from a three-run fourth to tie the game and a single run in the fifth.

 

In the fourth inning, Kylie Duhamel led off with a single to get things started. Abby Soto singled and stole second base to put two runners in scoring position with one out, and Maddie Harrington dropped a single into center field to drive in Taconic’s first run. Barber dropped a sac bunt to plate Soto, and Ahoussie singled to center to score Soto and tie the game, 3-3.

 

In the fifth, Goddard worked a one-out walk, went to second on a Maloney single and scored when Soto singled to left to make it 4-3.

 

For Wahconah, Kaley was 3-for-4 at the plate, and Marlee Arnhold went 2-for-3. Kaley and Keay split time in the circle, combining to strike out seven.

 

Taconic’s Soto went 3-for-4, and Maloney and Harrington finished with two hits apiece.

 

Maloney also anchored the Taconic defense behind the plate, allowing nothing to the backstop and making a stellar play on a shallow pop up in the fifth inning.

 

“She played hard,” Bree Goddard said. “She got hurt in the first inning, but she played through it. We didn’t have her last year. It’s a great addition to have her back for her senior year.”

 

Taconic (8-6) hosts Hoosac Valley on Monday.

 

Wahconah (6-9) hosts Mount Everett on Monday.