Wahconah Rallies Late to Advance in Division 4
DALTON, Mass. – The Wahconah softball team Monday rallied from a 3-0 deficit and scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to break a 4-4 tie and earn a 6-4 win over Littleton in the first round of the Division 4 State Tournament.
Harper Keay drew a one-out walk to start the winning rally and struck out three in five strong innings in the circle to earn the win. She also tripled and scored a run in a three-run third inning to tie the game.
The winning run came home on a two-out error by the Tigers, which was especially significant considering that two big defensive plays late were key to Wahconah’s win.
In the top of the fifth, Littleton tied the game, 4-4, with a double by Alyson Laing that left runners at second and third with one out.
The next Littleton batter attempted a bunt, which she popped up, and Wahconah third baseman Mariah Barnes came charging in for a diving catch to get the second out of the inning. Keay then followed with a called third strike to strand both runners.
In the top of the seventh with Wahconah clinging to a two-run lead, Littleton’s Jillian Palmer hit a one-out shot to right center field that Madison McCarthy ran down for a stellar catch to keep the bases empty.
Two hitters later, Barnes fielded a routine grounder and threw to first baseman Gracey Farley to end the game.
McCarthy and Barnes also were huge factors offensively. The center fielder went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. The third baseman was 1-for-3 with two runs batted in.
But their gloves were their calling cards under the lights at Pine Grove Park.
“Overall, it comes back to playing good defense,” Wahconah coach Dustin Belcher said. “We play the schedule we do all year so we can be in that position … At the end of the day, we’re battle-tested, and I thought that was the difference today. We’ve been in those kinds of games all year.
“We haven’t always come out on top, but we didn’t doubt ourselves. And our defense gained that confidence. That was the big difference, I think.”
Tenth-seeded Wahconah (11-10) moves on to the round of 16 to face No. 7 Abington (16-5), a 9-0 winner over Manchester Essex on Monday.
Littleton (8-11) delivered the first blow on Monday, picking up an unearned run in the first inning against Wahconah starter Marlee Arnhold. One inning later, the first two Tigers to the plate singled, and Palmer hit a two-run single with two out to make it a 3-0 lead.
The next inning, Belcher came back with Keay in the circle.
“We’ve gotten solid pitching all year, even when Sammie Kaley has thrown for us,” he said. “Marlee’s done a great job for us the last four or five games. So we gave her the start today. Harper plays in outfield, which she hasn’t played a lot of.
“But I talked to those guys yesterday about it. I said, ‘I don’t see us getting through the week being successful if you both don’t throw. So you just have to be ready at a moment’s notice. And I felt like with their four hitter [Laing] coming up there a second time, and she crushed the ball [for a triple] the first time. She was leading off [the third], and I just thought we had to give a different look.”
Keay struck out Laing and another hitter in a 1-2-3 top of the third, and her offense rewarded her with four runs in the bottom of the frame.
Keay’s one-out triple started the rally, and Barnes, Edrie Collins and McCarthy each drove in runs before Wahconah made its second out.
Littleton pitcher Tyana Killion (seven strikeouts) was able to stop the bleeding, and the Tigers got one of the runs back two innings later on Laing’s RBI double.
Keay allowed just one more base runner the rest of the way.
In the sixth, Keay worked a one-out walk but was erased when Arnold reached on a fielder’s choice for the inning’s second out.
Kenadi Arnhold then singled to right-center and stole second ahead of a Barnes walk to load the bases.
Killion appeared to get out of the inning when Collins grounded up the middle, but the ball was booted, allowing Marlee Arnhold to score and make it 5-4. McCarthy then singled to left field to bring home Kenadi Arnhold and give Wahconah a two-run cushion headed to the seventh.
“In this situation, win or go home, we get down 3-0, and then we battle back,” Belcher said. “But then when they scored [to make it 4-4], I was like, ‘Oh, boy.’
“We’ve been in too many of those games earlier in the year where we struggled to close teams out. But you could see it when we got those couple of runs, the relief, I think. And then we played great defense down the stretch.”