LISBON FALLS — Rachel Anderson saw the potential tying run racing toward home plate.
The Sacopee Valley catcher also saw the ball coming her way from the first base side of the infield.
The runner was the tying run. The ball was for the final out.
Advantage, Anderson.
Anderson put the tag on Lisbon’s Olivia Harrington at the plate for the final out of a thrilling 7-6 Western C semifinal win for the Hawks.
“I was sitting there thinking, ‘Please be out, please be out,'” Anderson said. “It was way too much excitement. It was way too close.”
Sacopee Valley advances to Tuesday night’s Western C final at St. Jospeh’s College.
It was a stunning and disappointing end for the Greyhounds (10-6). Sacopee rallied with three runs in the sixth and then squelched a potential Lisbon rally in the seventh.
“When you’re in the playoffs, you’ve got to take chances,” said Lisbon coach Terri Trudell, whose team had rallied to beat Telstar in the final inning Thursday. “That’s was a great throw. One inch one way or the other, it’s a whole different ballgame. Kudos to them. That was a pinpoint play right there. I don’t want to go down striking out in the bottom of the seventh. I want to go down moving.”
After getting a strikeout, the Hawks helped Lisbon’s comeback hopes when Harrington had a foul pop dropped. Then a dropped third strike allowed her to reach first. Chantal Bisson hit a grounder to first for an out, moving Harrington to second. Arianna Kahler followed with a grounder that was bobbled. Sacopee failed to get Kahler at first, but first baseman Melissa Mayhew alertly threw home when she noticed Harrington sprinting for the plate.
“I could see her rounding third,” said Anderson. “I wasn’t sure if she was coming home. When she did, I was like, ‘Throw home.'”
Mayhew’s throw was right on. Anderson did a nice job blocking the plate. She made the catch, applied the tag and held on to the ball.
“I saw her coming out of the corner of my eye,” said Anderson. “I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to get her.’ Melissa Mayhew made a terrific throw. I was so excited to get that out.”
It capped off a come-from-behind win for the Hawks (8-10). Sacopee was down 4-2 and 6-4 but still managed to rally.
“We talk to each other about if we get down and how we have to pick each other up,” said Anderson. “We’re still a team and still a unit. We can’t back down. We can always come back.”
McKenzie Ross led the Hawks with three hits while Shelley Pellegrino had two hits and two RBI while pitcher Ashley Pingree also had two hits. Mayhew and Julia Vacchiano each drove in a pair of runs.
Lisbon got two hits each from Harrington, Bisson, Alexa Harmon and Haley Eck. Harmon also drove in a pair of runs.
“I’m proud of the girls,” said Trudell. “This could have gone either way. I told them that I was proud of them. They came together as a team. They hit the ball well. There was nothing to be ashamed of today. It was great softball.”
With two good hitting teams, Sacopee’s Pingree and Lisbon pitcher Kimber Morse battled hard. The Hawks finished with 11 hits while Lisbon had 10.
“It was back-and-forth, a great hard-fought game for both teams,” said Trudell.
Lisbon built a 6-4 lead in the fifth when Harmon delivered a two-run single. In the top of the sixth, Sacopee came right back with three runs on two hits and two Lisbon errors.
After a walk and an error, Chelsey Burnell singled in a run. A Mayhew fly out tied it, and Pellegrino singled in the game-winner.
“We had a lot of good hits,” said Anderson. “We just didn’t give up.”
It was a Mayhew sacrifice fly in the first that put the Hawks up 1-0, but Lisbon tied it in the bottom of the inning on a Kahler ground out that scored Harrington.
A Pellegrino single scored Burnell in the third for another Sacopee lead, but a Bisson single and an error that followed allowed Harrington to score again.
Lisbon took the lead in the fourth when Eck singled in a run. Then Bailey Madore scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2. Sacopee tied it in the fifth when Vacchiano doubled in a pair.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Trudell. “We’re proud that we got this far. There was a stretch where we weren’t doing so well. So to come this far was really nice.”
kmills@sunjournal.com
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- Lisbon short stop Brooke Lawrence makes the tag on Sacopee Valley runner Bailey Marden in softball game played in Lisbon on Saturday.
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- Lisbon’s Olivia Harrington is tagged out at home plate trying to score the tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning by Sacopee catcher Rachel Anderson in a softball game played in Lisbon on Saturday.
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- Lisbon’s Bailey Madore beats the throw to home plate scoring on a catchers error in softball game against Sacopee Valley in Lisbon on Saturday. Covering at home plate for Sacopee Valley is pitcher Ashley Pingree.
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