Swampscott softball defeats Bedford

BEDFORD – The Swampscott softball team rallied from four runs down, and needed late-game heroics from Tessa Beane to defeat Bedford 8-7 Thursday afternoon at Bedford in a Division 2 North first round game.”This was the first time all year that when my team went down in a game, they found a way to come back and gut out a win,” coach Frank Kowalski said. “My team has come so far this year, and it is good to see it all come to fruition at the biggest stage.”Swampscott was down, 5-1, through five innings. But it had the meat of its order due up in the top of the sixth, and Merry Ball, Noel Landry, Tori Thistle and Kelly Birchmore hit consecutive singles to score one run. One out later, Lindsay Marini hit a bases-clearing triple that tied the score 5-5. A few moments later, Marini scored on an errant pickoff attempt, which gave Swampscott a 6-5 lead. After Sam Rizzo singled, Ball knocked her in with a single to make it 7-5.In all, the Big Blue had eight hits in the six-run inning.The Buccaneers did not waste any time tying up the game in the bottom of the sixth. In the top of the seventh, Thistle worked a one-out walk, to put the go-ahead run on first for Swampscott. Beane came up with two outs and hit the game winning triple that scored Thistle and gave Swampscott an 8-7 lead. Bedford led off the bottom of the seventh with a double. The next batter flew out but the runner moved from second to third on the out. The next batter grounded slowly to Swampscott senior pitcher Angela Vousboukis, who threw out the potential tying run at the plate for the second out. The next Bedford batter grounded out to end the game.”It was really such an exciting game to be a part of,” Kowalski said.”This is the first tournament win in the last 10 years for Swampscott softball,” he said.It was a 0-0 game through the first three innings. The Big Blue struck first in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single by Birchmore. The fireworks started in the bottom of the fourth and never stopped.Vousboukis recorded a gutsy win for the Blue (7 innings, 3 strikeouts, 8 hits, 1 walk, 7 runs, 5 earned runs). The Swampscott offense received big contributions from Landry (2-for-4, 2 runs) and Birchmore (2-for-4, 2 RBI, run).Swampscott plays the winner of today’s Burlington-Newburyport matchup in a quarterfinal game, at a date and time to be announced.