It's a crucial win for Walker, Waterford softball
Waterford — When Marissa Walker was in third grade and fighting bone cancer, she would go with her aunt, Waterford High School softball coach Liz Sutman, to help decorate the Lancers' locker room.
She even had her own locker as an honorary member of the team.
Now, Walker, a freshman left-handed pitcher for the Lancers, has her own locker. And there was certainly nothing honorary about her victory in relief Monday afternoon against Eastern Connecticut Conference Medium Division rival Stonington.
Walker, who entered the game with Waterford trailing 5-3 in the sixth inning, pitched two scoreless innings. Meanwhile, the Lancers scored four unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth, beating Stonington 7-5 to remain unbeaten in the division.
"This is my sport. I love this sport," Walker said. "Absolutely, I've been waiting for this. Obviously it's going to be stressful (coming into the game trailing). But I don't get to play every inning of every game because I'm a freshman. When I come in, I want to do great."
"(Scoring four runs) took a little weight off my shoulders."
Waterford (9-3, 5-0) scored all four runs with two outs. A groundball by Karena Bushey, which would have been the third out, was misplayed, allowing Bushey to reach. Stonington freshman pitcher Trinity Lennon, the unlucky loser, then struck out pinch hitter Alyssa Annabilini, which once again would have been the third out. Annabilini reached on a wild pitch, however, giving the Lancers runners on first and second.
Sara Buscetto drove in one run with a single, followed by a two-run single by Mackenzie Merriman and an RBI triple deep to left field by Jodi Weiss.
Waterford led 3-1 in the game before Stonington scored four times in the fifth, sending 10 hitters to the plate against junior pitcher Kazi Walker, Marissa's sister. It was then Sutman thought the Lancers needed the different look that Marissa provides throwing from the left side.
"Every time she goes out there it's definitely special. I try to separate that," said Sutman of Marissa, who had an expandable prothesis inserted in her left leg when she was younger, undergoing major surgery three times.
Sutman said her niece has an inner competitive drive that's come with her fight against cancer.
"It's in her. She's always had that competitive nature. She's got a different strength than many of us. She has a nice, quiet inner strength," Sutman said. "We were down and we needed a different look. I told her 'Go in and shut them down.' She listened."
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Walker retired the side in order in the seventh, with the importance of her appearance not only compounded by the magnitude of the game, but by the fact it came against Stonington. Waterford and Stonington have met each season since Walker was a little girl in a "Play 4 the Cure" game to commemorate the fight against cancer. Last year Walker, as an eighth-grader, threw out the first pitch.
"There's no doubt that life comes in," Stonington coach Ann-Marie Houle said of Walker. "Good for her. Not to beat me. But good for her. Softball is a game. What she does is life."
Sutman said that in Waterford's four-run inning, it was a case of making something out of nothing.
"It's a great thing," Sutman said of the Lancers' hold on first place in the Medium over Griswold (10-2, 4-1) and Stonington (8-4, 2-2). "We don't have any superstars, so to speak. If you looked through our scorebook, you'd see different girls coming through at different times, each one coming through under pressure."
Merriman and Ally Pezzolesi had two hits each for Waterford.
Cam Dreher and Rhianna Maynard had three hits each for Stonington and Abby Blanchard had two, including a line drive RBI triple in the heart of the Bears' big fifth inning. Stonington outhit Waterford 11-9.
v.fulkerson@theday.com
Twitter: @vickieatheday
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