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06/04/2014 12:00 AMThe East Haven softball team's fate in the SCC Oronoque Division came down to the final game of the season against Branford, and the Yellowjackets prevailed with a 4-2 victory over their rivals to finish 16-4 (7-1 Oronoque) and in sole possession of the division title.
"They knew that they had at least assured a tie, but we've been stressing, stressing, stressing now that our program is now on the upper level of the SCC that the Oronoque division is now ours," said Head Coach Ed Crisafi, whose club began play in states earlier this week. "For the past 10 years it's been North Haven, North Haven, North Haven with us and Branford mixed in a little bit. But now, this is our fourth Oronoque championship in the past five years. We've shared two with North Haven and won two outright so we're stressing that."
Sophomore shortstop Allie Luzzi led the charge offensively against Branford with two hits and two RBI. In the fifth, her triple scored Laura Anderson to make it a 2-0 ballgame at the time and she scored on a single by Talia Loda. Loda pitched per usual on the hill, allowing four hits in her complete-game performance, striking out six and walking none.
"Tal was Tal. But where she has also been a spark was at the plate, where she had three hits and an RBI and run scored," Crisafi said. "We changed up a little bit. We're starting to let her slap more rather than just doing regular hitting. She has seven sacrifices, but now we're having her do it with a slap where she's already running so hopefully she can continue it."
Although Amity, Mercy, and East Haven all finished 16-4, the Yellowjackets lost the tiebreakers and went into the SCC Tournament as the fifth seed. They ended up losing their first round game to No. 4 Mercy 3-2 in nine innings.
It came down to the International Tie-Breaker Rule. What it means is that in the ninth inning, the batter who made the last out in the previous inning starts on second base and the three outs begin after that. It's a rule the SCC implemented to avoid long extra-inning games as Crisafi noted that some games would go for 16-plus innings. Typically, teams try to bunt the runner over to third and slap home the game-winning RBI, something East Haven was unable to accomplish.
"We didn't execute our sacrifice-they did and they ended up beating us," he said. "It was a tough loss. The girls were shocked. We expect to win every time we go out."
In the bottom of the ninth, Mercy was able to beat out the sacrifice throw to first, putting runners on the corners. An intentional walk loaded the bases, and Maddy DeRita smoked a single down the left field line to leave the Yellowjackets on the field. She even tied the game in the bottom of the seventh as East Haven had a 2-1 lead going into the final frame. Mercy led off the inning with a bloop single, and a bunt attempt was popped over the head of East Haven's charging infielders for another hit. Another infield single loaded the bases and DeRita hit a sacrifice fly to send the game into extras.
"Going into the bottom of the seventh, I felt really good. They weren't really hitting the ball hard off of Loda," Crisafi said. "But their center fielder [DeRita] did."
Loda allowed nine hits and struck out four on the mound in the loss and contributed another two hits with her bat. Kara Hanson and Anderson both had RBI triples in the game to score East Haven's two runs.