Southwick Edges Wahconah for Walk-Off Win

MONTAGUE, Mass. -- Emily Lachtara held the Wahconah softball team to just one hit, and the Southwick softball team cashed in on a miscue in the outfield to walk off with a 1-0 win in the Western Massachusetts Division 2 semi-finals on Wednesday at Turners Falls High School.

 

“She took advantage of things we couldn’t control, and she pitched well,” Wahconah coach Dustin Belcher said. “At the end of the day, we didn’t make the plays we had to make.”

 

McKenna Leary led off the bottom of the seventh with a double to left field for just the third hit of the night against Wahconah’s Allie Borowsky.

 

Borowsky bore down and got the next two hitters on a fly ball to center and her fifth strikeout of the game.

 

But Emma Barnard lofted a fly ball into left-center that was mishandled, allowing Leary to race around third and score the game’s only run.

 

Second-seeded Southwick (17-4) advances to Saturday’s sectional final.

 

Wahconah (14-7) saw a four-game winning streak come to an end and ended a season that saw the team win six games decided by three runs or fewer.

 

“I think we did a good job throughout the year battling,” Belcher said. “We were in a lot of games like this where we came out on top. I think of the Shepherd Hill game (an 8-7 Wahconah win), the Taconic game (3-1 Wahconah), where we battled.

 

“This team showed its character. This game was no different today. The ball just didn’t bounce our way. And I thought we had some chances, too. We just didn’t get the timely hit.”

 

Wahconah left five runners on base, including two in the fifth inning, which started when Jess Duma was hit by a pitch.

 

Duma went on to get her team’s only base hit, a one-out single to right in the top of the seventh. Julia O’Connor bunted her into scoring position with one out, but Lachtara got the final out on a fly ball to left to end the inning.

 

Lachtara finished the night with nine strikeouts against just the one hit, two hit batters and two walks.

 

Borowsky pitched around three errors to keep Southwick off the board over the first six innings. She stranded four runners and got some help from her defense in the fifth, when catcher Jess Warren fired to shortstop Emma Parkington to catch a runner attempting to steal second with one out.