FILE PHOTO
Alaina Gridley’s seventh-inning single knocked home the winning run in Classical’s 4-3 softball win Saturday over Marblehead.
By STEVE KRAUSE
LYNN — It was a game between two of the Northeastern Conference’s elite softball teams, and it lived up to the billing.
Alaina Gridley hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday to lift Classical to a 4-3 win over Marblehead at Breed Middle School to raise their record to 14-2.
“It was a good game,” said Classical coach Erica Richard. “Maybe too good a game!”
The Rams had played some small ball in taking a 3-0 lead in the second inning, the Magicians rallied to tie the game with one run in the third and two more in the fourth.
And that’s where it stood until there was one out in the bottom of the seventh. That’s when Johnna Calder hit a soft line drive to right that fell in front of Mercedes Pelletier and then bounced crazily away from her all the way to the fence. Calder ended up on third with a triple.
That set the stage for Gridley, and pitcher Charlotte Plakans worked carefully to her. The count went full before Gridley launched one into left field to win the game.
“We have good No. 3 (Gridley) and No. 4 (Meghan Leavitt) hitters,” said Richard. “And when you see them up there in crucial situations, you can feel very good even if you’re nervous at the same time.”
Classical got started with none out in the second. Katie Morris led off with a solid single to center and from there, the Rams bunted the Magicians to death.
“And,” said Marblehead coach Johnny Gold, “we didn’t do a very good job in the field in that inning.”
Tori Adams laid down a sacrifice bunt, but it was so well-placed she ended up on first with a single. Kiara Edmonds followed with another sacrifice, putting runners on second and third.
Emma DeJoie put down Classical’s third straight bunt and ended up on first as confusion among Marblehead’s fielders resulted in no play being made. Neither of the other two runners advanced.
Maddie Dana’s grounder to third resulted in two runs, the first when the throw home attempting a force play went wide; and the second on another errant throw. Rebecca Walker’s grounder to the pitcher brought home the third run.
Marblehead, 13-4, got one run back in the top of the third when Hannah Garthe reached on an infield hit and eventually came around to score on a Classical error.
In the fourth, Plakans led off with a double and went to third on Olivia Fusengni’s single. But she was ruled out on interference when, on Montana Joyce’s foul ball, she got tangled up with Dana, who was trying to catch the ball.
That seemed to be a break for the Rams, but when Joyce’s swinging third strike skidded all the way to the backstop, Fusengni got to third. Both runners came across on an error on Bel Sogoloff’s ground ball.
“We didn’t play all that well,” said Gold. “We’re a better team than how we played today. We’re a better hitting team. Their pitcher was throwing them low and away and we couldn’t adjust. But we battled.”