The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Indians hold on to collect first SCC championship
WEST HAVEN — There were many different factors which could have motivated the North Haven softball team.
The fact the Indians were swept by Amity during the regular season could have been one. Or the fact North Haven never won a Southern Connecticut Conference tournament championship could have been another.
But, with long-time head coach Sally Maher in attendance after battling health issues that have taken her away from the field all season, the Indians knew exactly what they were playing for.
Pounding 13 hits off three Amity pitchers and scoring four times in the second and five more in the third inning, third-seeded North Haven held on to defeat fourth-seeded Amity 12-8 for the SCC title at Biondi Field in West Haven Saturday afternoon.
“This is overwhelming,” acting North Haven coach Karen Castagnola said. “They were on today. They told me they were going to do it and they did it. We treated it like any other game. We wanted to win it for her (Maher). She had faith in me to give me this position. She is actually away on vacation, but came today. We really wanted to win for her.”
Sarah Lombardi was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player with three hits and three runs batted in. Caitlin Ranciato also had three hits, including singles as part of rallies in both the second and third innings.
“It was really nice to have her (Maher) here,” Lombardi said. “It was so nice for her to come out. We did this for our coaches and for ourselves. I’m so happy for Mrs. Maher, especially with her leaving. We were able to do it for her.”
The game had offense written all over it from the start and lived up to the expectations as the two teams combined for 20 runs on 23 hits, while also making a total of seven errors.
Also in the mix was a home run by Lombardi that wasn’t in the first inning after she passed Caroline Gabrielle on the bases. Gabrielle scored on the play, but Lombardi was only credited with a single for a 1-0 lead.
The Indians appeared to break the game open in the second inning with four runs as Haylee Garthwait hit a two-run single and Gabrielle knocked in Peyton Davis with a double to left.
Amity came right back in the third to get within 5-3 as Dani Nordyk hit a run-scoring single and Carly Marchitto’s grounder
scored Nicole Koshes. When Brooke Matyasovsky singled to score Nordyk, Amity was within two runs.
“All the credit to them,” Amity coach Sara Hale said. “They had all three of our pitchers’ numbers. They knocked the ball around. We are young in the field in the outfield except for Dani Nordyk. This is good practice for what’s to come.”
Any momentum Amity had quickly disappeared when the Indians scored five times in the bottom of the inning for a 10-3 lead.
North Haven batted around in the inning, using a run-scoring single by Carly Brown, a two-run single by Olivia Petersen, and a run-scoring single by Lombardi.
“We hit today,” Castagnola said. “I think we saw their pitcher better. We hit all week.”
A sacrifice fly by Marissa Dwyer and a run-scoring double by Rachael Crow in the top of the inning for Amity were matched in the bottom of the inning by Petersen’s solo homer to left and Lombardi’s runscoring triple to right.
Nordyk, Matyasovsky, Dwyer, and Crow each had two hits for the Spartans. Crow also drove in a pair.