H.S. softball roundup: No. 7 Bears reach the semifinals in ECC tournament
Griswold — Abby Blanchard’s two-run single led to a three-run third inning as the seventh-seeded Stonington High School softball team topped No. 2 Wheeler 5-1 in the quarterfinals of the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament at Griswold High School.
Stonington will meet No. 3 Waterford in the semifinals at 7 p.m. today at Griswold. The first game of the semifinal doubleheader will feature No. 1 Fitch against No. 4 Norwich Free Academy at 4 p.m.
Wheeler led 1-0 after the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Jenn Paride. Stonington (16-5) took the lead in the third and added single runs in the fifth and the sixth.
Blanchard finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored, Mallory Kane was 2-for-3 with two runs and Emma Miller 2-for-3 with a run. Winning pitcher Trinity Lennon, a freshman, allowed just three hits and struck out five.
Raven Houck was 2-for-3 for Wheeler (18-3), which will next play in the Class S state tournament, and Paride struck out eight.
“We just chipped away. We had some good, aggressive baserunning,” Stonington coach Ann-Marie Houle said. “The kids are excited. Our rivalry with Waterford is what it is (the teams split this season). It gets you ready for states.”
In other ECC tournament quarterfinal games:
• Unbeaten Fitch survived a scare from No. 8 Lyman Memorial, rallying from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Bulldogs 5-4 in 10 innings. The Falcons (20-0) won the game on a game-winning single by Jayden Delaporta, who finished 2-for-5.
Caroline Taber earned the win, pitching 6.1 innings of one-hit relief with no walks and 13 strikeouts. Nalissa Amar led the Fitch offense by going 3-for-4, including a two-run triple in the fourth, while Jonell Hobert was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
• NFA scored two runs in the fourth inning to seize the lead and went on to beat No. 5 Griswold 3-1. Britt Clark started the rally with a single and Emily Arico reached on an error. Brittani Majcher and Abbie Laboy each had an RBI single to give the Wildcats (16-4) a 2-1 lead. Arico also doubled while Shaina Beatrice went 2-for-2 and pitcher Megan Weir tossed a five-hitter.
• Marissa Walker (4-0) got the win for Waterford, which outlasted rival East Lyme, the No. 6 seed, avenging a 12-1 loss to East Lyme in the teams' last meeting. East Lyme is 14-7.
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.