North Branford advances to Shoreline final

NORTH BRANFORD » Sophomore Angelina Ramada and her North Branford teammates are accustomed to winning Shoreline Conference championships. Winners of the last two conference titles, Ramada helped her team to its third straight conference championship appearance as her run-scoring single in the sixth inning led the Thunderbirds to a 2-1 victory over Haddam-Killingworth in the Shoreline Conference semifinals in North Branford on Saturday.

North Branford (17-5) advanced to today’s final against Hale-Ray in Old Lyme, looking for its third straight conference title.

“It is amazing,” Ramada said. “We knew they were going to be tough. We played them twice before this year. We have been really pumped to play since yesterday.”

With the game even at one in the fifth inning, the Thunderbirds rallied to score the eventual winning run. Junior Danielle Ramada led off with a double, moved to second on a sacrifice by Brianna Raccio, and scored on Angelina Ramada’s two-strike single to center.

“Honestly, I had two strikes and I had my whole team behind me,” Angelina Ramada said. “They were cheering me on, and I was able to come through.”

The rest was up to junior pitcher Sydney Senerchia who allowed just two hits, while striking out 10. One of those hits was a leadoff homer by Alison Halligan in the fifth to even the game at one.

“I thought she pitched well today,” North Branford coach Nick Delizio said of Senerchia. “She beat them before. Our defense was great today. We made a lot of big plays out there. It was a total team effort.”

The Thunderbirds took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning as Emily Muzyka hit a one-out single and scored on a two-out double by Katy Pederson.

“We keep battling,” Delizio said. “We have the heart of champions. At the beginning of the year, we set our goals high, and one of them was to win the Shoreline championship. To get there for the third time in a row is very special.”

Haddam-Killingworth (15-7) was retired in order through the first three innings, and did not have its first runner until Faith Mauri reached on an error with one out in the fourth. Mauri stole second, but was left stranded in the inning.

“We expected a low-scoring game,” Haddam-Killingworth coach Jeff Talbott said. “We split with them in the regular season and she (Senerchia) beat us. We knew she was going to be tough to hit. They were able to get the hits today. But, I am very happy with every aspect of our game today. They have nothing to hang their heads about.”

Senerchia allowed one other hit, that coming in the sixth to Rachel Senechal, but Senechal was caught stealing to end the threat.

Hannah Theriault allowed seven hits, walked one, and struck out three in the loss for Haddam-Killingworth.