Witches outlast Greene to capture Class C state title

McCauliffe allows just three hits, strikes out nine

Greenwich coach Bill Curley suffered a mini-stroke about a week ago. Saturday afternoon, he joked that his softball team almost gave him another one.

“I thought they were going to,” the 27-year veteran coach of three sports said while fighting back tears. They were tears of joy as his team beat Avon 5-0 in the semifinals and Greene 4-1 in eight innings in the final to capture the school’s second state championship in the sport.

“There are no words,” he said after his team rallied to win the title game. “I thought it was great. These are the comeback kids. They’ve been doing it the whole tourney. This was the biggest.”

A 1-0 victory in sectionals against Whitehall then another one-run win in the final against Chatham helped put the Witches in position to get to the Moriches Athletic Complex. McCauliffe’s pitching was key along the way, but so was steady defense and timely hitting. That recipe worked again Saturday, especially in the nail-biter of a title game.

“It worked,” Lily McCauliffe said of her team’s road to victory. “We definitely pulled through with the plays.”

McCauliffe tossed a threehitter with nine strikeouts and no walks in the final.

For awhile, it did not look like that would be enough. Olivia Kennedy, Greene’s reigning state Player of the Year, pitched a gem. The senior had 17 strikeouts and just one walk. And she was staked to a lead as McKenzie Scott tripled and scored on Kylie Ferris’ groundout in the fourth.

Curley’s team evened the score in the top of the sixth inning. A dropped third strike, an error, and a wild pitch led to Faith Ingber’s run. In the eighth, Reese Autiello doubled, Kiley Allen walked and one out later an infield hit by Ingber drove in a run. A wild pitch and an error allowed the other runs.

“It was crazy,” Autiello said of her clutch hit. “It was my first double of the playoffs.”

McCauliffe was also tough in Saturday’s state Class C semifinal. As a result, the Witches reached the championship game.

The senior had 11 strikeouts with just one walk in her two-hit, 5-0 win against Avon.

Ingber walked against the Section V champion’s Joleigh Crye to start the first inning for the winners then advanced on a wild pitch and a passed ball. She scored on Morgan Randall’s bloop single to give McCauliffe the lead.

Greenwich did not make an error while the Braves had three. Avon also had a few other passed balls and wild pitches that hurt its cause.

Jocelyn Spiezio scored two of the Witches runs to help the Section II champs pull away.

“It feels so good,” she said of the title. “I really wanted to hit the ball today.”

Crye finished with six strikeouts and two walks in defeat.

Greene won its semifinal in extra innings against Florida of Section IX.