This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Orange 9-10-Year-Old Softball Players Lose to North Branford

Girls will play on home field today at 5:30 p.m.

Trailing 3-0 and without a hit as they came up to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning, the North Branford  9-10 year old girls Little League All Stars broke loose for 4 runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. With those 8 unanswered runs, North Branford defeated Orange 8-3 Saturday afternoon in the first of the District 4 Playoff Finals at Stankye Field.  The best 2-games-out-of-3 series continues today in a 5:30 PM contest at Stankye.  If Orange wins to even things at 1-1, a third and final game would be played on Monday (Time TBA) at Stankye Field. The winner of the District 4 championship advances to the Section 1 tournament that gets underway on

Thursday in a 5:30 PM game at Ellsworth Park in Bridgeport.

“We had the lead but they kept their poise better than we did. At this age, keeping your poise can be a difference maker. I know we can play better. If we make the plays on Sunday, we should beat North Branford. Then, we’d go on to a third game on Monday, where we will let the chips fall where they may,” Orange Coach Ed Whitman said.

Find out what's happening in Orangewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Trailing 3-0 as Madison Blakeslee came to bat for North Branford with one outing the bottom of the fourth inning, Blakesleee beat out an infield single—her team’s first base hit of the game.  After Danielle Ranhda struck out, Britney Godfrey’s hopper was grabbed by Orange third baseman Carly Marchitto but her throw to first base was wide of the mark. With Godfrey on second base after the throwing error by Marchitto, Alex Gallo beat out an infield roller to load the bases. A pair of passed balls by Catcher Amanda Grandoso and 2 wild pitches by Orange hurler Nicole Koshes, gave North Branford 4 unearned runs and a 4-3 lead.

According to Whitman, “Their first run in the home half of the fourth inning proved to be a key play of the game. Their girl (Blakeslee) hit a nubber in from of the plate. She dropped her bat in a normal manager, but as it fell to the ground, the ball spun back and ticked the bat. We couldn’t come up with the ball. If we had made that play, the final outcome would have been much different.”  

Find out what's happening in Orangewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The bottom of the fifth inning proved to be equally as disastrous as its’ previous at bat. Back-to-back base hits by Blakeslee and Ranhda and a pair of stolen bases had North Branford knocking on the door, seeking more runs. With one out, Gallo’ fielder’s choice drove in Blakeslee with her team’s fifth run. A Koshes walk to Marcia Ferraiolo was followed Julia DeWhitt’s grounder to second Rachel Colt. Her errant throw enable Gallo and Ferraiolo to score and make it 8-3.

“We knew that we could put the ball in play. When we did hit the ball hard, it frequently was aimed right at people,” Whitman added, “We had the lead but then got rattled and let them off the hook. We were all confident that we would win the first game. Now we have to win on Sunday and force Game 3 on Monday.”

Orange had scored twice in the top of the first inning. Taylor Walsh reached base on an error by North Branford second baseman Angelina Renuda and raced around to third on Koshes’ 1-out single to right field. Koshes’ stolen base put her into scoring position Walsh scored on Grandoso’s infield out and Nicole Hunt slapped a single that drove home Koshes.

Rachel Crow led off the top of the fourth with a chopper that was mishandled by third baseman Ranhda. Shortly thereafter, she came around to score on the front end of Sara Kelly’s RBI-base hit into leftfield.

The 6-0 winners were led by Blakeslee (2 hits, 3 stolen bases. 2 runs). Ranhda added a single, a stolen base, and a run. Koshes was the losing pitcher (8 runs, 4 hits, 9 strike outs, and 4 walks) for the Orange All Stars but also singled, stole a base, and scored a run. Blakeslee went the distance for the winners. She allowed 3 runs on 3 hits while striking out 4 and walking 2.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?