Southington — The Norwich Free Academy softball team most certainly would've preferred to beat Southington on Thursday.

NFA head coach Bryan Burdick was just happy to play against the state’s most decorated softball program.

Chrissy Marotto scored from second base on a throwing error with one out in the bottom of the seventh as Southington edged the Wildcats, 2-1, in a nonleague matchup between two unbeaten top 10 teams.

“I look at this game as a great way to prepare us for the (CIAC Class LL) tournament,” Burdick said. “It’s none of those games that even though we lost, we gained a ton of experience. This was a team that really forced us to make plays. We may have made some mistakes, but we made some outstanding plays that stymied innings.”

The Wildcats hurt themselves by making a season-worst four errors, including two in the seventh inning.

Southington (5-0) is ranked fourth in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register Top 10 poll. The Wildcats (9-1) are third.

Kara Zazzaro pitched a five-hitter with eight strikeouts for the Blue Knights, which have won a state-record 17 state championships. Sarah Myrick added a single and a run and Frankie Ferrante had an RBI single.

Shea Gendron had an RBI double and Hailee Schrader singled and scored. Also, Beth Fleming pitched a three-hitter with six strikeouts and one earned run.

In other games:

• Abby Flakus’ sacrifice fly with no outs in the top of the eighth scored Cameron Dreher as Stonington beat Woodstock Academy, 11-9, in an Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II game. Cameron Dreher had two hits, including a double, with three runs and an RBI for Stonington (6-3, 4-1) and Trinity Lennon had two hits, including a double, and two runs. Also, Collette Dreher had two hits and an RBI.

• Shania Riviere went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI as St. Bernard beat Montville, 5-3. Meghan Bergeron hit two-run single for the Saints (5-2) and Emily Nelson had two hits, including a triple, and scored. Angel Skulczyck had an RBI single for the Indians (4-6).

• Taylor Wolfgang had three hits and scored four runs in Fitch's 10-3 win over Killingly. Jayden Delaporta had a home run and Ally Georgetti was the winning pitcher for the Falcons (6-3).

• Kristen King had two hits and scored as Old Saybrook beat Old Lyme, 8-1, in the Shoreline Conference. Old Saybrook is 3-8. Maddie Cann had an RBI single for the Rams (2-5).