Agawam played the role of the bad neighbor, spoiling graduation festivities a bit as the Brownies softball team completed a 3-0 win over second-seeded Westfield in a Division I semifinal game yesterday at Holyoke High School.
It was the completion of a game, which began on Thursday at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, only to be delayed nearly 24 hours due to heavy rains.
The game yesterday began with Agawam leading 2-0, thanks to a pair of unearned runs scored after Westfield committed two errors to start Thursday’s contest. The Bombers managed to get two base runners on with two outs as the heavy rain affected Agawam ace Danielle Circosta’s delivery. Umpires halted play during Sarah McNerney’s at-bat as the driving rain fell even harder.
When the first inning resumed Friday, McNerney drew a walk to load the bases. But Agawam’s pitcher flipped the switch.
Circosta struck out the next batter, and the next, and the next and so on. The Agawam ace struck out five straight, retiring 12 batters in a row and 19 of the final 20 to end the game. She finished with 11 strikeouts over the two-day affair.
Jesse Pratt was the only other Westfield batter to reach base, a lone two-out single in the fifth.
Agawam tacked on an insurance run in the third when Rebecca Fondakowski reached on an error, advanced on Faith Rheault’s single, and scored on an outfield error.
“We beat ourselves,” said Westfield coach Joe Stella, whose ball club finished with a record of 18-4. “But nobody can take those 18 wins from us. One of my players asked me the other day, ‘What if someone told you we’d be 17-3 at the end of the regular season?’ I said, ‘I would have been ecstatic.’ It was a very good season.”
Stella said he was impressed with his sophomore pitcher’s poise on the mound.
“Sarah came to play today,” the Bombers coach said. And with only four seniors graduating – Heather White, Ashley Therriault, Devon Fitzgibbons, and Noor Boulos – the future looks bright for the red, black, and white. The JV unit had an impressive season as well.
“I’m happy with what’s coming,” Stella said. “There are some good kids coming in. I think we’re going to be very competitive.”
Agawam moves on to face top-seeded Minnechaug (19-3) in the D1 championship this afternoon at 1 at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst softball complex.
