Despite taking an early lead, the No. 14 seed Saugus softball team’s season ended Friday night with a 4-1 loss to No. 3 seed Triton at Triton Regional High School.
The Sachems left 5 runners in scoring position during the loss while recording five hits.
“Its was a good game and kind of the story of our season,” head coach Steve Almquist said. “We just couldn’t get the timely hits that we needed.”
“We had a couple errors that hurt us but the kids hung in there and battled. I couldn’t be prouder of the effort.”
For the Sachems, Taylor Bogdanski went 2-for-2 and had the team’s only RBI. Caitlyn Wood also has two singles going 2-for-3 and Emma Howard also tacked on a hit going 1-for-3.
After a scoreless first, Wood started the second inning with a blooper that landed in shallow center field. After a walk by Sadie Dicenso and a passed ball, Saugus had runners at second and third. Bogdanski then sent a single to right field, sending in a run and giving Saugus a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning the Sachems were unable to drive more runs in, stranding runners on second and third base.
Triton answered in the third after a hard line drive up the middle that Wood could not field cleanly put Grace McGonagle on base. McGonagle would steal second and later score off an RBI double by Zoe Cesati. Tritons next batter, Bridget Sheehan would send a single to right field, scoring Cesati to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead.
After a walked batter and a hit, Triton would extend their lead in the fifth when Emily Karvielis drove in two more runs on a fly ball to right that outfielder Nystasia Rowe lost in the sun.
Saugus pitcher Caitlyn Wood pitched six innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs, while recording six strikeouts and two walks.
“There was nothing wrong with the effort today just the way the seasons been going, I’m extremely proud,” Almquist said.
The Sachems end the season with a record of 11-10. The team has eight freshmen returning next year and only one senior leaving Almquist said.
“It has been an enjoyable season,” he said. “It’s a competitive conference, we lost 5 one run games 2 in extras. I’m sad to see the season end, I love this group of kids and I’m proud of each and every one of them.”
“That’s three years in a row we’ve made the tournament, three years in a row we’ve had a winning record. A lot of teams didn’t get this far we should be proud of what we did.”
