Amherst Regional softball falls just short in state Division 1 championship game
1
2
3
WORCESTER - Quianna Diaz-Patterson and Simone Frank set the table for the Amherst Regional softball team twice Saturday night, but the Hurricanes stranded them on second and third both times.
King Philip of Wrentham, meanwhile, took advantage of its first base runner in the sixth inning and, aided by an error, scored the game-winning run for a 1-0 victory in an epic state Division 1 championship game at Rockwood Field at Worcester State College.
"The big thing was that we missed our opportunities," said Frank, the team's No. 2 hitter, who reached base on a pair of bunts. "If the game went on, I think we would have gotten more, but you need to take advantage of your opportunities in a game like this. We just didn't. We got the runners on base. We just didn't get them in."
Diaz-Patterson singled in both the first and sixth innings. Both times she stole second and was on third when Frank bunted her way on base. Frank stole second herself each time, with the Warriors (26-0) conceding her the base rather than giving Diaz-Patterson a chance to score.
But both times, King Philip ace Megan Rico (19 strikeouts, four hits, no walks) struck out the side to end the threat.
"It's upsetting, but she was a great pitcher," said Diaz-Patterson, who accounted for half of her team's hits. "She was mowing them down. That's the way the game goes.. If we can't produce at least one run, we're not going to win. She's great and we weren't on our game with the bats" Saturday.
Amherst standout pitcher Emma Mendoker was equally dominant against the vaunted King Philip lineup. The senior was perfect through 5-2/3 innings before the Warriors finally broke through with the game's lone score.
Rico, the No. 9 hitter, singled on a two-out grounder up the middle. The next batter, Jenn Robillard, then squared for her third straight bunt attempt. But where the first two were easy pop outs, this one fell just far enough in front of the plate for her to beat catcher Zoe Dillon-Davidson's throw to first and pinch-runner Hailey Mullen ran all the way to third on the play.
Mendoker was one pitch from ending the threat when she jumped ahead of Alyssa Siegmann 0-2, but her third offer caught Siegmann on the elbow to load the bases.
Amherst's sudden bad luck continued with the next batter, Meg Carnase, who hit a two-strike pitch high to center field. Hurricanes sophomore Athena Donta ran in under it, but her feet didn't stop with her, slipping on the grass and bringing her to the ground just as the ball hit her glove.
The ball fell, allowing the bases to clear and giving King Philip an apparent 3-0 lead.
"When the bases were loaded and I saw that pop fly, I thought I got myself out of it," Mendoker said. "Unfortunately, Athena lost her footing and it happens. It's too bad, but things like that happen."
Amherst appealed that the second runner, Robillard missed third base and she was called out ending the inning and giving the Warriors just one run.
But with the way Rico was dominating the bottom half of the Hurricanes' lineup, it was plenty for King Philip to win its second straight state title. The Hurricanes finished 23-2.
"If you told me Quianna was going to get to third twice with less than two outs, I would have said we'd score one run at least," Amherst coach Kacey Schmitt said. "But kudos to Meg Rico, she just bore down and pitched to really good hitters with runners on base. That's what a good pitcher does. I give her all the credit in the world."
Schmitt said she couldn't help Monday-morning quarterbacking the team's strategy after the fact.
"Of course, I'm kicking myself because I thought both times about laying down a squeeze bunt," she said. "The first (inning) was a little early in the game and it's risky. You've got to get the bat on the ball. The second time, I felt that we had (No. 3 hitter) Zoe and (clean-up hitter) Emma coming up and Emma had hit the double (in the fourth inning), I just felt everything had to happen perfectly for it to (work). Now it's shoulda-coulda-woulda."
Mendoker allowed two hits and one hit batter while striking out 10, including the 1,000th of her career. The two teams combined to put nine runners on base.
The two pitchers "lived up to their billing, which was great," Schmitt said. "You know when you are in a game like that, that it's going to come down to something like what happened. Either it's a bunt or a squib hit or somebody makes an error. And that's what happened.
"It's the way the game goes sometimes," she added. "You're just hoping it doesn't happen on your side. You are hoping it happens on the other side."
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
