LYNN — Saturday afternoon’s game between the Lynn Classical and Saugus softball teams pinned two squads against one another in the hunt for state tournament berths.
Thanks to a late 3-run rally and a stellar performance in the circle from Brooke Warren, Classical punched its ticket to the tournament with a 5-1 win at Breed Middle School.
“The No. 1 goal at the beginning of the year is to make the tournament,” Classical coach Erica Richard said. “That’s good for us now. It was a little scary losing Tori (Adams) last week but Brooke has stepped up huge and she has gotten us a few wins to get us here, keeping the momentum going.”
Warren, a freshman filling in for starter Adams while she nurses an injury, threw seven solid innings, allowed seven hits, no earned runs and logged six strikeouts.
Saugus put runners on base in five out of seven innings but Warren and the Rams worked their way out of jams throughout the afternoon.
“I’m happy with the effort,” Saugus coach Steve Almquist said. “We had a runner on third multiple times. It’s kind of been the case all year where we just can’t come through with the big hit. I’m very happy with the effort. We got five of our freshmen in and a couple of them got hits. It was a great effort against a great team.”
At the plate the Rams were led by Rebecca Walker, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored. Meg Leavitt went 2-for-4 with one RBI, Madison Dana went 1-for-3 with one RBI and Kayla Morrill went 1-for-4 with one RBI. Johnna Calder went 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
Saugus pitcher Caitlyn Wood also turned in a valiant effort in the circle, throwing seven innings and striking out seven. Saugus lone run came on a RBI single from Madison Niles (1-for-3, RBI).
After two and a half scoreless innings, Classical jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Calder singled to leadoff the inning and scored on a RBI double from Walker’s bat.
Saugus answered quickly with one run in the top of the fourth. A pair of Classical errors placed Sachems runners on first and second with one out. After a fielder’s choice logged the second out of the frame, Niles singled to score Taylor Bogdanski and even the score at 1-1.
Kiara Edmonds (2-for-3) laced a one-out single in the bottom of the fourth but Wood retired the next two batters on a pair of strikeouts. Classical changed course in the bottom of the fifth, when the Rams plated three runs to reclaim the lead. Walker led the inning with a double, and back-to-back RBI triples from Morrill and Leavitt gave the Rams a 3-1 lead. Dana followed with a sac-fly to boost the lead to 4-1.
“We were hungry,” Richard said. “We needed this win to make the tournament. We didn’t want to wait until the last week. It’s contagious, once we got one big hit it all kind of came together.”
“They hit the ball hard,” Almquist said. “We knew they were going to hit the ball eventually. Credit to Classical, they’re a solid team. You have to play close to a perfect game to beat them.”
Classical tacked on one more in the bottom of the sixth, on a RBI triple from Walker.
Saugus loaded the bases in the seventh, thanks to singles from Leah Ventre, Cat Schena and a hit batsman, but Warren ended the threat to seal the 5-1 win.
Saugus (8-9) visits Masconomet Tuesday. The Sachems need two wins with three games remaining to earn a playoff berth.
“One game at a time,” Almquist said. “We haven’t played Masconomet in a few years so we don’t know much about them. We just have to come out with the same type of effort we had today and we should be ok. I’m happy though, we’re playing better.”