BELCHERTOWN – When the Orioles most needed a hero, their underclassmen stepped up in a major way.  

The Belchertown softball team pulled off the comeback of the season on a breezy Wednesday afternoon, rallying from a 16-5 deficit to capture a 17-16 victory over Holyoke.

The Orioles walked off in the bottom of the seventh inning thanks to a quasi in-the-park home run from freshman Julianne Cozine that she managed through smart base-running and a Holyoke overthrow.

Sophomore Laura Cote threw three solid innings in relief of starting pitcher Olivia Lafayette; Cote allowed just three hits and two runs to give the Orioles a chance to mount the comeback.  

 “We were definitely aggressive [innings] one through five, and I think we just forgot to close the door (on) six and seven,” Holyoke head coach Yaixsa Vargas said. “I think that's my biggest thing right now is just closing the door.” 

Holyoke’s performance at the plate was dominant through four innings, as was its fielding. Through five innings, the Purple Knights limited the Orioles to just six runs, shutting them out entirely in the third and fourth innings. Starting pitcher Samantha Brennan struck out four batters and allowed eight hits in six innings of work. Relief pitcher Kylie Blaha was unable to limit Belchertown’s re-energized batters, allowing nine hits and nine runs in the bottom of the sixth before Brennan re-entered the game for the Purple Knights.

“In the beginning the energy was low and I think that's why we were down by a lot,” Cote said on the turnaround in the later innings. “Once we started to get our runs up and the energy came back then we made a comeback.” 

Trailing 16-6 to start the sixth inning, the runs poured in for the Orioles. Starting near the top of their rotation with Jessa Troy leading off, the Orioles made it through their entire lineup with everybody getting a hit except for one batter. The comeback was helped by smarter base running in the later innings for Belchertown, and by the time the game was over, the Orioles had stolen 21 total bases as a team, led by Troy with five swipes. 

Brennan came back in after a single from Troy brought in Cote and Vivian Ross to make it 16-14 Holyoke to loud cheers from the home dugout. The Orioles finished with nine runs in the sixth inning. 

It wasn’t that long before that the shoe was on the other foot – in the top of the fourth inning, the Purple Knights were electric at the plate, scoring eight runs to take a 14-5 lead. Lafayette struggled finding the strike zone in the beginning of the frame, walking two batters and hitting a third at the start. A single from Holyoke’s Jacqueline Jourdain drove in two runs to make it 9-5, and with two outs on the board, the Purple Knights still managed to plate five more runs before the inning was done. Jourdain co-led the team in hits with Jaycalee Santos – both finished with three hits and two RBIs.

The Orioles were missing a few players because of vacation week, so there were a variety of players who needed to adjust to playing in a new spot.

“I feel like the first couple of innings there was definitely a learning curve,” Belchertown head coach Chelsea Reynolds said. “Some people that haven't played before in a position got thrown there.” 

That included relief pitcher Cote, who hadn’t pitched in a year, as well as third baseman Lex Piwcio and JV players Natalie Rose and Valerie Williams, who played second base and center field, respectively. All played important roles for the Orioles in the win.

“Lex did a great job at third base. They were intense, they looked the runner back at second, made the play – Lex hasn’t played a game at third all season. Great to see,” Reynolds said. “Natalie Rose played second and my center fielder Valerie Williams caught two fly balls – as soon as she got put in there, (she) had two balls hit right to her. As soon as you put someone new in, the ball finds them.” 

Belchertown evened its record at 2-2 on the season with the win, and the Orioles will get right back at it on Thursday when they host Granby. Holyoke slipped to 3-4 and will also play on Thursday when it hosts Monson.

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