Aldridge, Woods deliver Fitch to ECC tournament softball title in the seventh
Griswold — As odd as it sounds for a team ranked first in the state and in the top 25 nationally, Fitch High School softball coach Arielle Cooper was still looking for a sign that her players had a belief in themselves and their teammates.
Then, with Thursday night's 2-1 victory over Norwich Free Academy in the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament championship game, both runs coming on the final swing by Cassie Woods, there came proof.
Fitch (23-0) was down to its last out with Mackenzie Aldridge at the plate. Aldridge, who struck out twice previously, carved a ball down the right field line that landed fair but rolled all the way into the corner in foul territory, resulting in a triple. Aldridge accidentally stomped on Cooper's foot in her excitement at arriving at third base. And the game-winning rally was set in motion.
"You see that they believe in themselves. That's what's the most important thing to me," said Cooper, who wasn't all that thrilled with her team's performance in the previous night's semifinal victory. "To ourselves, this is exactly what we needed. It's going to take a group effort to get us through this season."
"It makes me a proud mom at this point," Fitch all-state senior pitcher Caroline Taber said, speaking of her younger teammates. "I know that makes me sound weird."
Taber struck out 11 and scattered seven hits to earn the win for Fitch, allowing NFA a first-inning run on an RBI flair by Sara Cote that fell for a single. After that she pitched out of trouble on several occasions, including the third inning when she gave up a leadoff triple blasted by Shea Gendron.
NFA pitcher Beth Fleming, meanwhile, who did not allow a run in the tournament until the last swing, struck out nine and gave up only four hits headed to the seventh.
Following Aldridge's triple, however, Nalissa Amar (2-for-2) was hit by a pitch and stole second base, giving Fitch runners on second and third with Woods coming to the plate. Woods had a hit in her first plate appearance, but struck out looking in each of her two previous at-bats.
Cooper gave Woods the thought to try to squeeze home Aldridge with a bunt, hopefully tying the game, but gave Woods the green light to do what she thought was best. Woods smacked a 1-1 pitch into left-center field to score both runs.
"I just got this instinct," Woods said. "If I could just hit a blooper ... that was the goal. I was thinking, 'I've had it with striking out.' Kenzie doing that was the best. That really motivated me. That was the game-changer."
It was the third straight one-run game between Fitch and NFA (18-5), with ECC Large Division champion Fitch coming out on top in all three. The prior two were settled in eight innings. It was the second straight tournament title for the Falcons, following NFA's upset of them in 2014 when they were also undefeated.
Fleming, a junior, increased her strikeout total this season to 266, improving on the NFA single-season record she set Wednesday.
"They're the No. 1 team in the state, ranked in the top 25 in the country according to MaxPreps and we hung with them until the last out," NFA coach Bryan Burdick said. "I told my players that there were two teams that competed until the end and sometimes there's nothing you can do. A good player (Woods) made a good play at the end."
Burdick, whose team heads into the Class LL state tournament while Fitch attempts to return to its third straight Class L final, was nothing but complimentary of the Falcons as Fitch third baseman Rylee MacMillan came over to hug him following the game's end.
"I mean, look at these kids," Burdick said of Fitch. "They're special, just genuinely nice kids."
"It's amazing," Taber said. "I wouldn't want a game any other way. We're 23-0 but it means even more that we beat the Beth Flemings. Beth is one of the best pitchers I've ever faced. I thanked (Burdick) for four great years of competition. That's a gift he gave me. That sends us into the tournament tested."
v.fulkerson@theday.com
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