Bedford's Kelsey Murphy makes contact during Tuesday's game against Windham.
BEDFORD – Emily Grassett pitched three innings of relief, giving up two hits and a walk while striking out two, and Ashley Abad drove in four runs to help the Bedford High School softball team rally Tuesday for an 8-5 win over Windham.
The Bulldogs scored eight unanswered runs, including five in the bottom of the fifth inning that gave Bedford (2-3 in Division II) its first lead of the day. Grassett pitched out a of a jam in the top of the seventh, as Windham put two runners on, but the senior induced a groundout to end the game.
“It was real good,” Bedford coach Derek Geddes said of getting the win. “Starting off 1-3, we were in a place that we really haven’t been in a couple of years. We pulled it out and it took a lot of work.”
Windham's Rachel Vafides delivers a pitch during Tuesday's game.
Abad went 2 for 3 and drove in four, while Grassett helped her cause by going 3 for 3 with a RBI. Carly Rosenfeld also drove in two runs while Kelsey Murphy and Kelly Woodmansee both scored twice.
“It was pretty tough (coming back), but I know that we have a strong team,” Grassett said. “We all are great hitters and we had to get into the mindset that we were going to go out there and knock it out. We did that.”
Rachel Vafides suffered the loss for Windham (2-2), giving up seven earned runs on 11 hits and two walks while striking out five over six innings. Heather Tornquist led the Jaguars at the plate, going 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
“First three innings were great, then we didn’t make the plays we should have made,” Windham coach Dave Hedge said. “We came out like gangbusters and then just sat on it.”
Windham took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first against Woodmansee, and then tacked on four more in the second. The Jaguars batted around in the inning, getting five singles and double by Tornquist to go up 5-0.
Windham threatened again in the third, putting two on with one out. But Woodmansee – who allowed five runs on nine hits and two walks in four innings – was able to get out of the inning unscathed by forcing Vafides to hit into a double play.
Bedford got one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning, when Murphy led off with a double, went to third on a hit by Woodmansee and scored on a sacrifice fly by Abad.
After the Jaguars went quietly in the fourth and fifth, the Bulldogs made their move.
Murphy and Woodmansee led off the inning with back-to-back walks and scored on singles by Heather Fyfe and Abad, respectively. Vafides then struck out Alex Haskell, but Rosenfeld doubled to score both Fyfe and Abad to tie the game 5-5.
One batter later, Grassett’s two-out single drove in Rosenfeld to give Bedford its first lead of the day, 6-5.
“That was awesome,” Grassett said of being able to help herself out. “It’s real good to be able to do that and it helps everyone else. We all feed off each other, which is great.”
Windham went in order in the sixth, and Bedford scored two more runs in its half of the inning on a two-run single by Abad.
“They really feed off each other and once they get going, it’s hard to stop,” Geddes said. “We talked about it in between innings to be more disciplined because we knew that she was going to get wild. It worked out, we got some walks out of it and moved people around.”
The Jaguars threatened in the seventh, as Micheala Haten singled with one out and Haley Psareas drew a two-out walk. But Grassett got Danielle Donovan to ground out to short to end the game.
Both teams are off until April 23, when Bedford hosts John Stark, and Windham hosts Pelham.