> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Laconia gets big hits late to beat H/B in D2 softball final - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/laconia-gets-big-hits-late-to-beat-hb-in-d2-softball-final/ - Published: 2011-06-17T01:55:48.000Z - Updated: 2011-06-17T01:55:48.000Z - Description: MANCHESTER – The Laconia High School softball team lived on the edge all season. So why not do it again in the Division II championship game? - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Division II, Spring Sports, Brookline, Hollis, Laconia, playoffs, softball, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/hbsball0614-laconia1.jpg "HBsball0614 Laconia1") MANCHESTER – The Laconia High School softball team lived on the edge all season. So why not do it again in the Division II championship game? The Sachems scored the tying run in the bottom of the seventh and brought home the winning run in the eighth to beat Hollis/Brookline 5-4 in the title game Tuesday at Southern New Hampshire University. For No. 3 Laconia (18-2), it was just another come-from-behind win. “All year we’ve come from behind,” Darci Blake said. “We’ve had so many heroes, it’s a different kid every game.” This time, there were a few heroes. There was Kelsey Stone, who struck out her first two times up and was pinch hit for in the fifth inning, but came through with a RBI single in the seventh inning that tied the game at 4\. There was Jenna Marchione, who went 3 for 4, but was told to put down a sacrifice bunt in the eighth inning. After fouling two bunt attempts off, Marchione crushed a double to left field to bring home the winning run. There was Shayla Hubbard, who had three hits and drove in two runs, and Susannah O’Brien, who had two hits and scored two runs. And finally, pitcher Amy Cass, who pitched eight innings, giving up two earned runs, struck out seven and stranded two H/B runners in the top of the eighth. “Kelsey Stone hadn’t had a hit all game, and bottom of the seventh she comes up and squeaks that run across,” Blake said. “Jenna Marchione says please I don’t want to bunt, I want to hit. I said I need that one run across. She couldn’t get the bunt down and I said you’ve got to do it. She did it. Every day, it’s a different person.” The No. 8 Cavaliers (15-5) had some heroes of their own. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/hbsball0614-hb14-2.jpg "HBsball0614 HB14-2") Kirstin Bergen went seven innings for H/B, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits and four walks, but struck out 12. “She did everything we asked her to do,” H/B coach Nicole Adamson said of Bergen. “She mixed up her pitches, she kept it low. She did an amazing job. It’s nice to be able to say she did what she always does. She always hits her spots and she’s an incredible competitor.” Sarah Drazin was 3 for 4 with a RBI and run scored and Bernadette Abt had two hits and three RBIs, one of which came on a solo home run in the top of the fourth that tied the game at 3. Just a few feet separated H/B from what would have been its first championship. The Cavs took a one-run lead in the top of the seventh when Lia Bobek singled with one out and went to second on a fly out by Charli Bradshaw. Drazin followed by smashing a ball off the center field fence, just a few feet short of a home run, but enough to score Bobek to make it 4-3. But Cass was able to induce a popup from Abt, who had also doubled against the Laconia pitcher, to end the inning. “You work hard and you do your best, but there’s always a little luck involved,” Adamson said of Drazin’s hit. “We knew it was going to be a battle for seven innings. Laconia had come back in several games this season and won from behind, so we knew we had to play a solid seven innings. The girls played well. They played a solid eight.” It looked like it wasn’t going to go eight when Bergen got two groundouts sandwiched around an infield single by Hubbard. Stone came up with two outs and sent a ground ball up the middle that was just out of the read of shortstop Kaitlyn Sliger. Drazin scooped up the ball in center field, and appeared to have Hubbard nailed at home, but the throw sailed over the head of H/B catcher Bradshaw, allowing the tying run to score. In the eighth, the Cavs put two runners on with no one out, but grounded into two fielder’s choices. Bergen came up with two outs and runners at the corners, but a ground ball back to the pitcher ended the inning. O’Brien, the Sachem’s No. 9 hitter, led off the eighth by reaching on an error. Marchione followed by fouling off two bunt attempts before sending a fly ball deep to left. Bobek went back and made a leaping attempt at the ball, but it hit off her glove and O’Brien came around from first to score the winning run. “Two great teams that played well and it was decided by one run, which is how you want it,” Adamson said. “It was a great game.”