LOWELL — The eighth-seeded Tahanto softball team worked through close games all season, and it was no different Tuesday at River View Field against No. 4 Georgetown with a trip to the Division 5 championship game on the line.
This time, however, the Stags wound up on the short end of a 4-2 decision to the Royals in a state semifinal.
"That was sort of a microcosm of our season," said Tahanto coach Steve Pacheco, whose team finished 15-6. "A lot of extra-inning games, a lot of hard-fought games, a lot of comebacks. You even saw it in the last inning. We were a base hit away from tying that thing up, and it just didn’t fall our way today."
Georgetown (15-6) faces the winner of Wednesday's Hopedale/Turner Falls semifinal at noon Saturday at UMass.
On its way to the state semifinals, Tahanto defeated top-seeded Greenfield and ninth-seeded Maynard, which had beaten them two times earlier this season.
Like they had all season, the Stags didn't quit. Trailing, 4-2, Molly Simler opened the seventh inning with a perfectly executed bunt, and Abby Bidinger walked on four pitches to give Tahanto runners on first and second with no out and set up freshman Anna Bidinger, who already had a hit and scored a run.
After taking the first pitch for a ball, Anna ripped a ball to center field, but right at center fielder Jenna Johnson, who barely had to move for the catch.
"I knew she was the one we wanted up in that situation," Pacheco said, "rather than trying to bunt (Simler and Abby) over because she was squaring up the ball all day. She did, unfortunately, it wasn’t 15 feet to the right or left."
Brissette walked to load the bases, but Georgetown pitcher Maddie Grant forced a flyout for the second out and fanned Annah Long to end the game.
"We certainly had our opportunities," Pacheco said. "Hats off to their pitcher. She kept us off balance, that’s her game, and she did a great job. She made the pitches when she had to. We were on a roll offensively, and she has multiple pitches, she mixes her speeds, and really that was it. She kept us on our heels a little bit."
Grant settled in after a shaky first inning, during which she allowing two hits and a run, with Rylee Walton's single up the middle scoring Anna Bidinger. She allowed just three hits the rest of the game and finished with seven strikeouts.
Abby Bidinger, a junior, also shined in the circle. She allowed 10 hits, seven over the final two innings, and struck out eight. left-hander was rolling during the first four inningsm, finding the perfect spot for her pitches on the outside corner, sitting down four batters looking.
Of course, as she's done all season, she was pitching to sister Anna.
"They just feed off of each other, a great dynamic duo," Pacheco said. "Anna calls all the games and does a fantastic job.
"Abby is just a bulldog on the mound," the coach added. "Her pitching went to the next level in the playoffs, and we were just a whisker's hair from getting to the finals."
Abby Bidinger's fifth-inning double drove in Chloe Cogswell to give Tahanto a 2-0 lead.
Bidinger gave up singles to to Ava Ruggiero and Ellie Barbarick to open the bottom of the fifth, After a flyout, Grant's base hit loaded the bases, Jillian Figueroa's single scored Ruggiero, and Mackenzie Riley's single delivered Barbarick to tie the game at 2-2.
The Stags almost got out of the jam without further damage when Johnson hit a grounder to junior third baseman Izzy Brissette, who already had made three putouts including a pop fly earlier in the inning, but she mishandled it, allowing Grant to score the lead run.
Barbarick tacked on a solo home run in the sixth for insurance.
Tahanto graduates six seniors — Cogswell, Long, Simler, Walton, Zoe Abdella and Emma Vaillette.
"They are a really good group of girls," Pacheco said. "High character people, and they are going to do great things moving on in their lives."
—Contact Michael Shattuck at michael.shattuck@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @MikeShattuck.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: 'It just didn’t fall our way today': Tahanto softball falls short to Georgetown in Division 5 state semifinal
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