Bristol edges Faith Christian in District 1-1A Final

BRISTOL >> Members of the Faith Christian Academy softball team didn’t hang their heads after Thursday’s loss to Bristol.

Instead, they wished the Warriors the best of luck in the state playoffs.

“Hopefully they go far,” said Faith coach Rod Blake, “represent the Bicentennial Athletic League with a state title.”

The Lions, two-time defending District 1-1A Champs, had gone to states each of the past two seasons and nearly made it three in a row, breaking a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning.

But the Warriors tied it in the bottom half and pushed ahead the winning run in the seventh to prevail 2-1 in the District 1-1A Final at Bristol High School.

“It was a great game against a great opponent,” said Blake.

Faith, seeded second in districts, finished its season 18-4. The two teams had to wait a day for the showdown, after thunderstorms wiped out Wednesday’s affair and postponed it to a noon contest at Bristol on Thursday.

“It’s probably the best Faith team ever assembled,” Blake said. “We came in loose today, came in as underdogs.”

Emily Blake pitched well for the Lions in the loss. She blanked the Warriors in each of the first three innings.
Faith’s offense came to life in the fourth against Bristol ace Hailey Sweeney, with Riley Binder knocking in Morgan Pepkowski for a 1-0 lead.

But Sweeney was key for Bristol down the stretch, keeping the Lions off the bases and leading the Warriors onto states. Top-seeded Bristol had captured its fifth straight BAL title this year, making it 19 in the past 20 seasons.

Faith has plenty to build around moving forward.

“We lose two good seniors but the rest of the team will be back,” Blake said.

Bristol 2, Faith Christian 1
(2) Faith Christian 000 100 0 — 1 3 1
(1) Bristol 000 100 1 — 2 4 1
WP: Hailey Sweeney (7IP, 1R, 1ER, 3H).
LP: Emily Blake (6+IP, 2R, 2ER, 4H).