The No. 2 St. Mary’s softball team battled back to tie and even had the go-ahead run on base in the eighth inning, but the Spartans couldn’t quite get over the finish line and fell in heartbreaking fashion as No. 1 Amesbury walked off to a 3-2 win in extra innings in the Division 3 North Final at Amesbury Middle School Saturday afternoon.
As has been the case all season, St. Mary’s junior ace Lily Newhall was dominant on the mound. She didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning, going the distance and allowing three runs while striking out eight batters.
But Amesbury’s Alana Delisle was just a bit better out there, allowing just one earned run and striking out seven in the complete-game victory.
The first half of the game went by at a blinding pace thanks to the stellar pitching, with four full innings completed in just 35 minutes of real time.
Things started slowing down a bit in the fifth, starting when St. Mary’s moved a runner to third base in the top of the inning after Samantha Porazinski singled and moved over on a pair of sacrifice bunts. But Delisle buckled down from there, forcing a popout to escape with no damage.
Then, in the bottom of the fifth, Amesbury struck.
An error and a bunt single put two runners on base for Lauren Celia, who stepped up and smashed a two-run single to put the Indians ahead 2-0.
But in the top of the sixth, St. Mary’s took the momentum back after two uncharacteristic Amesbury errors allowed two runs to come home and tie the game up at 2-2.
Both teams settled down from there, moving through the next two innings to force extras. St. Mary’s moved the go-ahead runner to second base in the top of the eighth, but Delisle once again worked out of the jam unscathed.
That set the stage for the Indians in the bottom of the eighth. Ella Bezanson started things off with a one-out double, then Olivia DeLong stepped in and sent Amesbury off to the state semifinal with a walk-off single to win the game.
St. Mary’s wraps up the season at 20-3.
