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05/07/2014 12:00 AMThe North Haven softball team came into East Haven on April 28 and stormed out with an 8-5 extra-inning victory to remain unbeaten in SCC Oronoque play.
The Indians (5-7, 5-0 Oronoque) scored three runs on one hit and two errors in the top of the 10th inning to steal the game from the Yellowjackets.
"This hurts more than that 10-run inning on Friday [against Sacred Heart]," Head Coach Ed Crisafi said. "The only good thing we did all day was come back and tie the game, but once we did tie the game, we couldn't take the lead."
The Yellowjackets had plenty of chances. In fact, they had at least one base runner in eight of the game's 10 innings.
"We're not hitting in the clutch and not hitting in big situations. That's it in a nutshell," Crisafi said. "How many pitches did we swing at in the dirt when the count was 3-and-2 and we could've walked? We have to regroup."
North Haven started the action in the first inning, scoring four runs on four hits. The big hit came from Haley Arnaoutis as she smacked one off the right center field wall with the bases loaded to drive home three runs before scoring on a single by Jillian Oestreicher.
Center fielder Jenna Gaudioso answered for East Haven in the bottom of the first with a two-run home run, but North Haven extended its lead by scoring a run in the top half of the third.
East Haven was able to tie the game in the fifth when it scored three runs on four hits, but that was all the offense could muster throughout the rest of the game.
East Haven's best chance to end the game came in the bottom of the eighth inning when it loaded the bases with nobody out, but Jena Villecco popped out, Allie Luzzi grounded back to the pitcher for a force-out at the plate and Talia Loda popped out to the shortstop to end the threat.
That inning seemed to take the life out of East Haven (6-4, 2-1), and the Indians took advantage in the 10th inning. Loda walked the first two batters of the inning, then when the next batter hit a ground ball right back to her, she looked to third to nab the lead runner only to see nobody manning the bag. Therefore, all runners were safe and North Haven had the bases loaded. Crisafi ordered the infield in and Loda got the ground ball she was looking for out of North Haven's Antonia Barbiero, but rather than coming home with the ball, shortstop Luzzi got the force-out at third.
"Why don't you come home?" Crisafi said. "Why is the infield in? We haven't made bad errors all year until these last two games. This one just boggled my mind. Bases loaded and the infield in and you don't come home?"
That play was followed up by another fielding error by Luzzi as she lost her balance trying to field a ground ball-resulting in another run-and then North Haven's Rachel Giatrelis singled home the Indians' third run of the inning for added insurance.
In the bottom of the 10th, East Haven had the game-tying run come to the plate with two outs, but Loda struck out on a full count to end the game. North Haven's pitcher, Haley Arnaoutis, pitched 10 complete innings to earn the win, fanning 10 Yellowjackets. She outdueled Loda, who allowed just seven hits and struck out 14 hitters through her 10 innings pitched. Where Loda struggled was with her command early in the game. She issued free passes to four leadoff hitters throughout the game and on three occasions they came around to score.
"Walks hurt Tal the whole game," Crisafi said. "That's going to come back to haunt you."
East Haven returned to form against Guilford on May 2 with a 3-0 victory. Loda started the game, but left after just three innings after feeling some discomfort in her hip. She walked two and gave up a hit through three innings before expressing discomfort and being taken out of a scoreless ball game.
"She never told us, but if you notice when she pitches, on her follow through she bangs her glove against her hip, along with her elbow," Crisafi said. "She ended up getting inflamation on her hip. She also has bruises on her pitching elbow, too."
The Yellowjackets turned to Kara Hanson, who came on to finish the shutout. Hanson fanned three hitters and allowed just three base runners through her four innings of work to earn the win. Offensively, East Haven came away with nine hits and scored the game-winning run in the fourth when Hanson singled home Gaudioso to take a 1-0 lead. In the fifth inning, Gaudioso's sacrifice fly knocked home Luzzi and Giovanna Russo tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the seventh inning.