Clock strikes midnight on Winthrop’s Cinderella run

The Winthrop softball team was trying to make it back to the Division 3 North final for the first time since 2011 when it faced No. 1 seed Amesbury on Wednesday in the semifinals at James S. Martin Field in Lowell. Unfortunately for the Vikings, mistakes were their undoing.
Winthrop hung tough with the top-seeded Indians for half the game but errors helped lead to a six-run bottom of the fourth as Amesbury cruised to a 9-0 win.
?We lost to a better team,” Winthrop coach Dave Guffey said. “But we also didn?t play as well as we could have. But take nothing away from Amesbury, they did a good job of putting the ball in play and making some great plays on defense when they needed them.”
The No. 21 Vikings (11-11) had plenty of chances offensively, pounding out 11 hits. But Amesbury stonewalled them at every turn.
?We kept getting runners on and (Amesbury) kept closing the door on us,” Guffey said.
The Indians (20-2) scored once in the bottom of the first against Winthrop starter Taylor Thomas as Autumn Kligerman singled home Lauren Fedorchak.
It stayed 1-0 until the bottom of the fourth when the roof fell in on Winthrop.
Three errors combined with six hits led to Amesbury breaking the game open against Thomas and reliever Maura Lanza.
Thomas went the first 3 2/3 innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits with one strikeout. Lanza worked the final 2 2/3 innings, scattering five hits with two earned runs.
Maddie Fianga?a led the Winthrop offense, going 3-for-4. Lanza was 2-for-4 and Alexis Joyce went 2-for-3.?Hopefully we can build off of this,” Guffey said. “It was a great season for us, all things considered. We were 2-8 at one point but the girls stayed with it and did a great job.”