WESTMINSTER- Going into the seventh inning, Windsor trailed by a run , but a clutch RBI from Ava Sutton sent the game into extra-innings, and the Lady Jacks exploded for five in the eighth for the road win over Bellows Falls Wednesday, 18-13.
After two innings, Bellows Falls was on top, 5-2, but the Windsor bats came alive in the third, scoring ten in the inning to jump out to a 12-5 lead. In the third, to go along with a walked-in run, two runs on passed-balls, and three RBI-singles, Jasmine Frazer and Adi Prior both had 2-RBI doubles.
In the bottom-half of the third, Bellows Falls responded with five runs to make the score 12-10 and chip into the Windsor lead. Emma Graham started the scoring off with an RBI-triple and was later knocked in by a single from Emily Bazin. This was followed by three runs scored on passed-balls.
Graham knocked in another run in the bottom of the fourth on a single that scored Lila Guerrina to bring the score to 12-11. In the bottom of the fifth, the Terriers grabbed the lead on a 2-RBI ripper up the middle from Guerrina. The game would go into the seventh with Bellows Falls on top 13-12.
With two outs in the top of the seventh, Windsor’s Ava Sutton came through with a clutch RBI-single that kept the Lady Jacks alive. Windsor held off the Terriers in the bottom half to send the game to extras, tied 13-13.
Windsor put their foot on the gas in the top of the eighth when most teams would run out of gas. The Lady Jacks scored five in the inning behind a couple clutch hits and two runs on passed-balls and then held the Terriers scoreless in the bottom-half to grab the road win, 18-13.
On the win Wednesday, Windsor head coach, Heather Stearns, said, “We struggled today swinging the bats I thought against their pitcher but once we settled in and we got some confidence… that’s when we got up there and started swinging and made the defense make the plays.” She went on to say, “We just kept fighting… we had passed balls, too many errors, we couldn’t get out of innings, and then we had some hits.”
It was very much a back-and-forth game between two similar teams. Windsor had moments when they struggled, and Stearns was aware of this, saying, “We made mistakes but that’s why we have teammates… somebody else is going to pick you up, somebody else is going to make a play. We tried to not get stuck on something and just tried to move forward to the next inning. That’s what we like to do some games… come from behind and sit back and scare us coaches.”
On the loss in a well-fought game, Bellows Falls head coach, Kim Wells, said, “I thought we played a great game… we had a couple rough innings but otherwise we had some awesome hits out there and made some awesome plays. If we put that together… we’re going to see some wins. There was some solid pitching today and we got hits from everybody so that makes it a game and makes it a lot more fun.”
Both teams’ pitchers went the distance Wednesday, Paxton Santorelli had 7 strikeouts for the Terriers, and Carah Rugg had 5 strikeouts for Windsor, respectively. On Santorelli’s pitching, Wells said, “I thought she did great… she pitched all eight innings… you’re going to have ups and downs but considering she stayed together for a solid eight… I think she did great.” And, on Rugg, Stearns said, “Carah wasn’t feeling good… but she dug in and finished the game and worked hard for us.”
With the win, Windsor improves to 3-7 and will host Woodstock on Monday, May 14th. Bellows Falls drops to 1-8 and travels to Fair Haven on Friday.
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