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06/03/2018 12:00 AMThe North Branford softball team continued its run of dominance in the Shoreline Conference Tournament by claiming the title for the fourth straight season with a 2-1 win versus Hale-Ray in the league final at Old Lyme High School on May 27.
In a rematch of last year’s championship clash, the T-Birds trailed Hale-Ray 1-0 entering the fifth inning, but then tied the game on an RBI single by sophomore Kayla Despres. Later in the frame, freshman Jada Miconi hit an RBI double to give North Branford a 2-1 lead. The rest was left to senior left-hander Sydney Senerchia, who pitched scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh to solidify the Shoreline four-peat for North Branford. The team has won the conference title in all four of its seasons with Nick DeLizio as head coach.
The Thunderbirds followed up their big win against Hale-Ray by winning their first three games in the Class M State Tournament to advance to the semifinal round. Coach DeLizio’s club remains undefeated with a record of 26-0 for the year.
“Coming in four years ago, I had this mindset where in the first year I knew what we had and thought we can do big things. The girls bought into the system and you can see they want to do it again and again,” DeLizio said. “We’re getting greedy, but it’s OK to get greedy in sports like that. To see where the program has grown from to where it is now is pretty awesome.”
North Branford had defeated Old Saybrook and Valley Regional in the first two rounds of the Shoreline Conference Tournament to reach the final. Facing Hale-Ray with the title on the line, Senerchia allowed one run on just three hits, while striking out nine batters. Miconi had two hits for the Thunderbirds, who once again rose up to the challenge of defending their conference crown.
“The way the girls have been playing the past few years and the way the program has seen success, there’s a target on our backs. We’re not hiding out anymore. We’re not going to sneak up on teams. Everyone knows who North Branford is in the Shoreline,” Coach DeLizio said. “Opposing teams get extra motivation to beat us, so they’re dialing it in a little more. What I told the girls is that they need to bunker down with mental toughness and do what you need to do. I’m glad we came out on top.”
On May 25, North Branford blanked Old Saybrook by a 14-0 score in the Shoreline Conference quarterfinals. Senerchia tossed three innings and struck out eight, after which Kaylee Velez closed the door by tossing the final two innings. Senerchia had two hits and two RBI, while Danielle Ramada had a hit and drove in a pair of runs.
The next day, North Branford defeated Valley Regional 4-2 in the semifinals. Senerchia allowed four hits and struck out 14 batters to earn the win. Angelina Ramada, Miconi, Olivia Hemstock, and Senerchia all drove in runs for North Branford. Hemstock and Amy Raucci both had two hits in the victory.
Shortly after winning the Shoreline Tournament, North Branford started off the Class M State Tournament as the No. 2 seed and earned wins against Woodland (6-0), Ellington (1-0 in 8 innings), and Waterford (8-0) to make the semifinals. North Branford hosted No. 31 seed Woodland in the opening round on May 2 and prevailed 6-0 as Senerchia tossed a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts. Hemstock led the offensive charge with three hits, Katy Pedersen had a hit and a pair of RBI, while Angelina Ramada and Danielle Ramanda both clubbed two hits apiece.
In the second round the following day, North Branford was tested by No. 18 seed Ellington as the two teams went into extra innings knotted at 0. In the top of the eighth inning, Ellington had a runner on third with two outs, but Senerchia struck out the next batter to keep the game tied. In the bottom half of the inning, Angelina Ramada worked a leadoff walk and then Kayla Despres hit an infield single to put runners on first and second. That’s when Pedersen stepped to the plate and hit a walk-off single to right field to send the Thunderbirds into the quarterfinals. Senerchia allowed just two hits in the eight-inning shutout to go with a whopping total of 17 strikeouts.
“When you’re facing these team that have won 17 games in their conference, you know the girls need to bunker down and simplify things,” said DeLizio of Ellington. “We needed to get base runners. We don’t need the Earl Weaver three-run home run. We just need a base hit and to pass the baton.”
In the quarterfinals, North Branford squared off against No. 26 seed Waterford and won an 8-0 contest on June 1. As she has been all season, Senerchia was brilliant in the circle once again as she allowed just one hit and one walk for her third straight shutout in the tournament. Miconi opened the scoring with an RBI groundout in the first inning. Senerchia blasted one off the bottom of the right-center field fence in the fourth to make it a 3-0 game. A few wild pitches and an RBI single by Angelina Ramada made it 6-0 in favor of the T-Birds. North Branford pushed it to 8-0 advantage later in the game.
North Branford will square off against No. 3 seed Griswold (22-1) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5 in the Class M semifinals. Should North Branford win that game, the team will play for the championship on either Friday, June 8 or Saturday, June 9. The Thunderbirds took a 4-3 loss to Seymour in last year’s Class M state final.
“You build on that momentum from the regular season and Shorelines right into the postseason. Now it gets fun and games become a little more emotional,” Coach DeLizio said. “We have unfinished business. We’re playing our hardest and doing the best we can. We hope to go to that state championship and, hopefully, take that trophy home.”
North Branford’s roster consists of senior captains Danielle Ramada, Olivia Hemstock, and Sydney Senerchia; juniors Amy Raucci, Angelina Ramada, Ashley Anderson, Kaylee Velez, Samantha DeAngelo, and Brianna Raccio, sophomores Katy Pedersen, Mairead Aiken, Julia Ricardo, Rachel Vitarisi, and Kayla Despres; and freshmen Mia Deloughery, Kelli Jacobson, Isabelle Fortier, Jada Miconi, Olivia Ferreira, Sophia Anastasio, Erica Piercey, and Sophia Ouellet.
Thunderbirds’ Head Coach Nick DeLizio is assisted by Jon Rapport.