WORCESTER — The dynamite in Chelsea Moussette’s legs exploded one more time for Hampshire Regional.
She stood on third base at Worcester State’s Rockwood Field with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning of the MIAA Division 2 state title game against Tewksbury.
Dirt covered the front of her red No. 9 jersey and white pants after stealing two bases in the final three innings, sliding into second to beat throws.
Taylor Boutwell was in the batter’s box.
She and Moussette played a huge part in the game even reaching the eighth inning for the Raiders.
Tewksbury pitcher Adrianna Favreau threw Boutwell two pitches.
The second rifled down the third base line past a charging Moussette pumping clenched fists in red gloves.
She crossed the plate with ease, scoring the final run of a 3-2 victory that sealed a second consecutive state championship.
Good thing she was wearing a helmet.
Moussette barely had time to turn around with her arms raised before teammate Katy O’Connor collided with her at celebrating speed.
Boutwell touched first base for posterity’s sake then pulled a U-turn to join the mass around Moussette at home plate.
“I knew I had to make something happen. Being a leadoff hitter, it’s my job,” Moussette said. “I’ve been in a slump this whole tournament, so it was nice to get a hit and help the whole team out.”
At various points prior, the Raiders were either hoping for an eighth inning or desperately trying to avoid it.
They trailed 1-0 from the third batter of the game.
Tewksbury’s Marissa Doherty led off the game with a double.
Kirsten Dick followed with a single that moved Doherty to third, then Adrianna Favreau hit a sacrifice fly to score Doherty and give the Redmen a 1-0 lead after one inning.
The Raiders hadn’t trailed in a game since May 20 against Turners Falls, the last time they gave up a run.
Hampshire (21-4) loaded the bases in the bottom half of the opening frame with walks by Boutwell and Lilly West sandwiching an O’Connor single.
Madison Philbrook struck out to end the inning.
Hampshire didn’t put another runner on base until the sixth inning.
Alexis Ferris kept the Raiders in contention during the intervening innings.
She allowed two singles in the third inning but struck out the last two batters to escape with no damage.
That started a streak of six consecutive strikeouts into the fifth inning.
“She settles down just about every time she goes out there,” Hampshire coach Brian McGan said. “She shows no emotion. I go out there to ask her if she’s OK, and she says ‘I’m good.’”
Try great.
Ferris was on the mound for the second consecutive state title, allowing seven hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Her teammates made sure she got the win for a second straight year in the state title game.
Moussette started the sixth inning off with a single before stealing second and third.
Danielle McGan sacrificed her to third.
That brought up Boutwell, who crushed a triple to right field to tie the game.
O’Connor smashed a ball to shortstop next.
It hopped up the Shrewsbury second baseman’s body for an error, putting Hampshire on top 2-1.
“I can get a lot of power behind the ball, and I know that even if it goes right to someone there’s a good chance they’re going to bobble it because it’s hit so hard,” O’Connor said.
Tewksbury then had three outs to send the game to the bottom of the seventh and potentially further.
Erika Whynot singled to open the inning for the Redmen, and Nicole Petherbridge grounded out to push her to third.
Kayla Vonkahle singled to tie the game at two.
The pressure then flipped back to Hampshire.
Brielle Bergeron reached base with a one-out error.
Nicole Buzzee pinch ran for her and was caught stealing second.
She stole the base cleanly but slid past it and was tagged trying to reach backward.
Tewksbury put Dick on first in the top of the eighth on an error, but Ferris stranded her with a pop out and a groundout.
“We just never gave up. We fought the entire time,” Moussette said. “We just knew we could do this.”
Seven seniors played their final game for Hampshire on Saturday – Nicole Buzzee, Moussette, Kiley Bissell, Ferris, Danielle Buzzee, Boutwell and West.
They won three consecutive Western Massachusetts sectional titles and closed their careers with two state titles.
“We went out with a bang,” Moussette said.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.