Killingly entered Tuesday’s Eastern Connecticut Conference Division 1-2 softball tournament quarterfinals with five straight victories, including a win over Division I Woodstock Academy that highlighted a stretch of six wins in seven games.
A rough start against Fitch, however, spelled doom for Killingly.
The Falcons (11-10) scored three runs in the first inning and cruised to a 12-0 (6) mercy-rule win at Washington Park in Groton. Fitch advanced to meet NFA in Wednesday’s semifinals.
Killingly (11-10) was also fresh off a thrilling win over St. Bernard in the annual Morgan Ross Fundraiser game but Fitch’s first four batters - Jaedyn Steffens, Maerin Lyon, Grace Cosmopoulos, and Katie MacPherson - reached safely and a pair of groundouts gave the Falcons an early 3-0 lead.
“The first inning set the tone,” Killingly coach Lance Leduc said. “They’re a really good team. We knew that. We made two uncharacteristic mistakes on defense. They weren’t really errors but we handed them two runs. It’s not good, sound softball and against a team like this it sets the tone and then the wheels start to fall off.”
Killingly had a number of baserunners early in the game but couldn’t deliver a timely hit.
“We had nine baserunners,” Leduc said.
Fitch broke things open in the bottom of the fourth when Lyon lined an RBI double and Cosmopoulos delivered a two-run single to center for a 7-0 lead.
Danielle Veillette relieved Killingly starter Samantha Baker and pitched the final two innings.
Killingly’s Addison King had a two-out single in the fifth, Madison Daniels had a two-out pinch hit single in the sixth, and outfielders Brenna Baribeau and Emilee Pepin caught well-hit fly balls in the bottom of the fifth.
Fugere’s line drive hit to right field scored two runs, invoking the mercy rule in the bottom of the sixth.
“We’ve had an up and down year,” Leduc said.
Killingly, which competes in ECC Division II, had seven games against ECC Division I opponents this season, including an 11-2 loss against Fitch on April 29.
“We got handed seven DI games this year, the most we’ve ever had,” Leduc said. “Seven of our 10 starters are sophomores so it’s a tall order. We went at it as strong as we could.”
St. Bernard 9, Griswold 0: St. Bernard’s Anabelle Wenzel tossed a three-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts to lead the Saints (10-10) past the Wolverines in an ECC Division 3-4 quarterfinal round contest.
Angelica Tompkins led the Saints offense with three hits, including two doubles, three RBIs and two ruins scored. Wenzel helped her cause with a two-run single in the fifth to give the Saints a 5-0 cushion.
Abby Matheson allowed five hits while striking out 11 and walking six for the Wolverines (15-6).
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