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06/18/2014 12:00 AMThroughout most of the regular season and postseason, the Old Saybrook softball squad had earned the reputation of coming back and winning in games that mattered, but in the Class S State Tournament final on June 14 in West Haven, the tables were turned on the Rams. Facing No. 2 seed Thomaston, 8th-seeded Old Saybrook took a commanding early-game lead that disappeared in the sixth inning before the Bears won 7-6 in the bottom of the eighth.
The Rams' offense was on fire in the first two innings as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead thanks to RBIs from Emily Santamaria (2), Laura MacLeod (2), and Paige Trabucchi (2) and righthanded pitcher Effie Gianitsos's domination on the mound as she shut out the Bears through four innings. But in the fifth and sixth innings, Thomaston got six runs in a remarkable comeback.
"Very tough when we had a 6-0 lead. We had errors and we just couldn't get outs when we needed to; we had our chances to make outs at the plate and a couple of those runs killed us because it ended up tying the game. And our bats just cooled off-we started off on fire and then after the second inning, we couldn't score," said Head Coach Laura Westner, whose team rallied to beat Coginchaug in the semifinal to win 5-4. "It's just disappointing because we came so far."
Old Saybrook started off the game with Trabucchi hitting a leadoff triple and she got on the board when Santamaria notched an RBI single. Gianitsos then knocked a single up the middle and both Santamaria and Gianitsos performed double steals on Thomaston lefty Morgan Standson's wild pitch. With a runner on second and third and no outs, Lauren Pascoe popped out to bring up Laura MacLeod who hit a two-RBI single up the middle to score Santamaria and Gianitsos after an outfield error and the Rams had a 3-0 lead early. Thomaston's defensive troubles continued when Madison Eucalitto barely got out at first after a bobbled ground ball by the second baseman, but Standson worked out of further trouble after striking out Micheala Efinger.
"It's a great feeling to be here-we haven't ever been here since 1988. No matter what, I'm proud of my team for what we did this year," said Eucalitto. "We had some huge wins this year, especially in the tournament, including being down 2-0 against Coginchaug and winning. I mean, we did what we could in this game."
The top of the second saw Eilis Welsh earn a leadoff walk, followed by a double by Tina Gosselin that advanced Welsh to third base. With no outs, Trabucchi hit a two-RBI triple to left field and Santamaria added to the damage with an RBI single that skirted past the shortstop to give the Rams a commanding 6-0 lead.
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Thomaston handed Gianitsos just her second hit after Erin O'Neill knocked the ball up the middle for a single. Sandson then got a single and with two on and two out, Nicole Schaffer hit a line drive right to Pascoe at shortstop to end the inning.
With one out in the bottom of the fifth, the trouble began for Gianitsos (6 strikeouts, 8 hits on 6 runs) and the Rams. Jensyn Cleveland hit a blazing triple to right field for the Bears, but was then thrown out at third by Trabucchi as she took too big a lead off the bag. Gianitsos walked Danielle Genest, Gabby Hurlbert hit an RBI double to score Genest, and Julia Romaniello followed that up with another RBI double to score Hurlbert and Thomaston pulled to within 6-2 with two outs. After Romaniello stole third on a wild pitch, O'Neill grounded out to end the inning.
Sandson got through the top of the sixth unscathed for the Bears and led off the bottom of the inning at the plate with a single. Schaffer then knocked a single up the middle and Nina Barone skirted an RBI single right down the third base line to cut Saybrook's lead in half. With no outs and two on, Cleveland drew a walk to load the bases for Gianitsos and Genest hit a grounder to Santamaria, who threw home, but Trabucchi couldn't make the play and a run scored, making it 6-4. Gabby Hurlbert then hit a grounder and Saybrook again threw home and couldn't make the play as the Bears came within one run with no outs. Abby Hurlbert hit another grounder to Santamaria, who threw home and got the second out before Gianitsos got into further trouble when she threw a wild pitch and Genest stole home to tie the game. O'Neill drew a walk to load the bases with two outs before Gianitsos struck out Sandson to end the bleeding with the game tied at 6-6.
"It's not really our M.O. to lose on errors like that. We just couldn't get an out and they rallied and had no outs forever. We had our chances and just couldn't do it-our throws weren't dead-on or on time, and then someone gets up and rips a single and scores and it's just tough," said Westner. "In the first few innings we were making great defensive plays and shutting down their offense. I wouldn't say Effie got frazzled, I think maybe they just started figuring her out; they're good hitters. And they started waiting on her and a couple of walks hurt us. I guess just later in the game their offense figured us out a little bit. Unfortunately, you'd think six runs was enough run support, but I guess we just didn't get the job done today."
Sandson shut down the Rams in the top of the seventh and Gianitsos did the same in the bottom of the frame to push the game into extra innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Gianitsos gave up a leadoff walk to Gabby Hurlbert and Romaniello bunted her over to second. Abby Hurlbert hit a shot to Gosselin in left field, who made the second out, before O'Neill hit the game-winning RBI to centerfield to give Thomaston the 7-6 victory.
"I'm proud we played with heart and left the field with heart," said Gianitsos. "Thomaston is kind of the comeback team. I'm still proud of how we played and I think we left our hearts on the field."