Members of the Wilton-Lyndeborough softball team watch as teammate Ally Jenkerson strikes out to end Saturday's softball final.
PLYMOUTH – The scene inside the home team’s dugout said it all
There sat Wilton-Lyndeborough seniors Kelsey Gilmore, Marika Thompson and Meghan Brett a half hour after the end of the Class S softball championship game Saturday at Plymouth State University.
All three leaned forward, arms resting on knees, heads either hung, starring at the ground, or up, watching as Woodsville celebrated a championship that appeared to belong to the Warriors in the not-so-distant past.
Going into the top of the seventh inning, top-seeded WLC held a 5-2 lead, and despite seven errors, had been able to keep No. 3 Woodsville off the board since the first inning.
But the Engineers regrouped and got aggressive at the plate, getting five runs on six hits and a walk to take a 7-5 lead. The Warriors were able to load the bases with two out in the bottom of the inning, but Woodsville pitcher Katie Davis struck out Ally Jenkerson to end the game.
“I didn’t expect this to happen, once we were up 5-2,” WLC coach Denny Claire said. “All we had to do was get three outs. They came back and beat us.”
The Warriors (18-1) looked like they were off to a good start in the seventh, but Woodsville catcher Taylor Morris was called safe at first on a close play. A single by Alex Graham and walk to Cassie Manning loaded the bases with no one out.
WLC pitcher Sam Broderick got Ashley Griswold to line out to right field – where Deanna Davidson made a great catch – for the first out, but Samantha Huntington and Katie Hilliard had back-to-back singles to make it a 5-4 game.
WLC's Katie Day takes a swing.
With the bases still loaded, Davis popped a ball up into shallow centerfield. Second baseman Sam Blais appeared to be in position to make the catch, but the ball dropped in and the throw home by center fielder Meghan Brett sailed to the backstop, allowing two runs to score to put Woodsville (17-3) up 6-5.
“That little popup behind second, I think she turned the wrong way,” Claire said. “They got some hits. We made mistakes and some of them cost us. We had them, we just let them off the hook.”
Both teams made plenty of miscues, as the Warriors made seven errors – leading to two unearned runs – and the Engineers made three errors to go with two passed balls and two wild pitches.
But in the seventh inning, Woodsville was bringing it to the Warriors.
“They hit the ball, that’s really all that happened,” Broderick said. “They were really jumping on the first couple of pitches. They were way more aggressive than they were before.
“They were hitting me the whole game. I didn’t really have an advantage at all. There was no one who didn’t hit the ball. I was working with Marika, trying to move the ball around to keep them from hitting it. They hit the ball. I’ve got to give it to them.”
Woodsville added another run in the seventh to make it 7-5 and Davis opened the bottom of the inning by getting two outs, including an uncharacteristic called third strike on Broderick.
“She just doesn’t do that,” Claire said. “She (Broderick) gets a hit there and you never know.”
Katie Day drove a single to center to keep the Warriors alive, and Katelyn Thompson, who went 3-for-4, singled down the third base line. Both runners advanced when the ball died in the outfield grass, giving WLC runners at second and third with two out. Davis then loaded the bases by walking Carly Ayres on a 3-2 pitch, bringing up Jenkerson, who had a hit in her previous two at bats.
“We had a shot to tie it or win it,” Claire said. “She was nervous. Nobody wants to make the last out.”
Marika Thompson, right, hugs Ally Jenkerson after Saturday's game.
Jenkerson swung at the third strike and fell to her knees before her teammates surrounded her. Jenkerson, Broderick and Day all went 2-for-4 while Ayres had two walks and two runs scored.
Woodsville started the scoring in the top of the first, getting two runs, one of which came on the Warriors’ first error of the game.
WLC struggled against Davis the first time through, but the offense broke out in the bottom of the fourth inning. Broderick led off with a single, and after a strikeout, Katelyn Thompson singled to drive in the Warriors’ first run.
Ayres then reached on an error and Thompson scored on the play to tie the game at 2. Jenkerson followed with a ground-rule double to right, bringing Ayres in with the go-ahead run.
The Warriors added unearned runs in the fifth and the sixth on a wild pitch and a passed ball to push the lead to 5-2 going into the top of the seventh.
“It’s tough because we can all honestly say we felt pretty comfortable before that started,” Gilmore said. “And then they get one hit, and then they get another hit, and another hit. We’ve got to climb out of this. We almost came back like they did.”
It was the sixth straight championship game appearance for the Warriors, who lost the first two, won the second two and have now lost the last two.