Hornets rally in seventh to top Indians

By Bill Rudick
EAST MARLBORO—Down by four headed into its last at bat, Oxford (4-4) rallied for nine runs in the seventh, then held on for a 13-8 victory over host Unionville (1-7) in the Ches-Mont American softball contest Monday afternoon.

This is a very good softball league,” said Oxford coach John Greene. “It seems like anyone can beat anyone at any given time, so you have to be ready to fight until the end. This division is up for grabs, so it was important to us to rebound from a loss and put ourselves right back in it.”

Trailing 1-0, the Indians put up five in the third, with only one base hit, a bases clearing triple from Anna DeShaies. The rest was walks and errors, and an RBI groundout from Alexis Harris.

“Those kinds of innings are frustrating and you really hope to avoid them,” said Greene. “But that’s softball.”

After the Hornets cut the lead to 5-4 with a run in the fifth, and a pair in the sixth, Unionville answered right back and looked to put things away with a three-run sixth, highlighted by a two-run sac fly to deep left from Alexis Harris. 

“We’re getting better every time out,” said Unionville coach Carly DiVirgillio. “It’s tough to see us lose two straight games we were winning in the seventh, but these girls keep battling, and we are slowly getting better every time out.”

Shannon Martin kicked off the Hornets seventh with a single up the middle, then loaded the bases on back-tobacl walks to Alex Pierson and Gia Colyle. Up next was Julie Cappelli, subbing in for Carly Stoltzfus, who left the game after being struck on the hands on a bunt attempt. Cappelli delivered with a sac fly to score Martin.

Maddie Hamilton (3 for 4, 3R, 2 RBI) followed and cleared the bases with a double to straightaway center. The Hornets would tack on another five runs in the inning on singles from Elisa VanZyl, Abby OP’Connor, Caitlyn Darczuk and a second base knock in the inning from Martin. Darczuk’s hit put the Hornets on top. 

“My heart was pumping when I came up to the plate,,” said Darczuk. “ All I wanted to to do was get on base anyway I could.”

Martin, who came on in relief of Stoltzfus, knocked in another pair to give herself a little bit of a cushion.

“I felt a little more loose after that big inning,” said Martin. I knew my team would have my back in the seventh. It felt great to come back and win the way we did.”

Martin put the game away, setting down the Indians with a 1-2-3 bottom half of the seventh.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these girls,” said Greene. “It would have been easy for them to just hang their heads and pack it in down like we were and with Carly out. But they just stayed focus and crawled back in it one at bat, one out at a time.”

Oxford 12 Unionville 8

Oxford ab r h bi Unionville ab r h bi
Coyle–lF 4 2 2 0 Griffiths–RF 4 1 1 0
Stoltzfus–P 3 0 1 0 Hojnacki–CF 3 2 2 0
Cappelli—3B 3 0 0 0 Hammond—3B 1 3 1 0
Hamilton—1B 3 3 2 2 DeShaies–SS 2 2 1 3
Felds—RF 5 1 0 0 Panati—1B 3 1 0 0
VanZyl–DP 4 1 2 2 Harris–LF 4 0 0 0
O’Connor–SS 5 1 3 2 Crittendon–P 4 0 1 0
Darczuk—CF 5 1 1 1 Dreyer—DP 4 0 1 0
Martin—3b/P 4 2 2 3 Jones—2B 4 0 0 0
Pierson– 3 1 1 0 Totals 28 8 7 3
Totals 41 12 14 10
Oxford 0 1 0 0 1 2 9–13
Unionville 0 0 5 0 0 3 0—8

2b—Hamilton 3b–DeShaies
IP H R BB SO
Oxford
Stoltzfus 4 1 5 2 3
Martin (W) 2 6 3 2 1
Unionville
Crittendon (L) 6 13 10 3 2
Salisbury 1 1 2 0 0