QUEENSBURY – Two teams not even ranked among the top three-seeded teams in three own sectional tournament played for top billing in the Class C softball finals late Saturday afternoon at Adirondack Park.
Greenwich, returning all of its starting lineup from last year’s state semifinals club, rode the hot bat of Dani DeGregory to a 5-2 championship win over the Greene Trojans (21-5).
The Witches broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth scoring a trio of runs. DeGregory, 3-for-3 with three RBI in the title game, broke the deadlock with an RBI double, and Abby Dusha provided a three-run cushion backing up that two-bagger with a two-run double.
Greene threatened heavily the last three innings, but managed just a pair of runs in the fifth. “I really haven’t seen such a confident team in the batter’s box,” said Greene head coach Rick Smith of the Witches. “It’s amazing that they were only a fifth seed in their sectional tournament. They’re from the Saratoga area, so they must have had some tough competition all year.”
Greenwich (20-8) had Greene on its heels in the opening inning. Ashley Maines, also 3-for-3 on the Bears’ side, singled, and DeGregory followed with a two-run homer off Greene hurler Rebecca Hanrahan. DeGregory was a combined 6-for-6 at the plate in semifinals and finals, and drew a comparison from Smith. “DeGregory is definitely a special player, and she’s a lot like Jessica Winans (Afton graduate),” the Trojans coach said. “She has effortless power. She gets a bat on the ball and just snaps her wrist. If we get through her, I think we’re okay.”
Those two early runs held up until the fifth inning. Bears pitcher Rachel Albrecht retired the first 12 Greene batters in order. She had just two strikeouts in the game and gave up seven hits, but had flawless defense playing behind her. The Trojans helped out the Greenwich defense early on with a number of weak pop-ups. “We were back to popping it up, but then we really started hitting line drives and balls on the ground,” Smith said.
All seven of Greene’s hits came over the last three innings, and four of those were in the fifth. Taylor Ellis, Kiley Schaff, and Shawn Ayers all singled. Gabby Sherwood’s safety squeeze bunt scored a run, and Sierra Stoppkotte tied the game with a one-out RBI single. The Trojans, despite having the top of the batting order at the plate, were unable to do more damage. “Their outfield was coming in on the ball aggressively, and we really were only able to take one base at a time on our hits,” Smith said. “They were just a great defensive team, but if the ball goes either way a few more feet on those hits and gets through, we would have scored more runs.”
The tie game would be short-lived as the Bears answered back immediately. “We played a really clean game and made them earn everything,” Smith said. “We hit the ball hard a number of times, but they were right at people. Our hits just didn’t fall in like theirs.”
Greene was outhit by Frewsburg 9-4 in the state semifinals, but had the most timely hit of the game – a two-run homer – and manufactured the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth – absent of a basehit – to defeat the Bears, 3-2.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game going in,” Smith said of Frewsburg. “We thought the winner would have a good chance in the finals.”
Neither team took advantage of its runners in scoring position through the first four innings. In the top of the fifth, the Bears had runners on second and third with two outs, but grounded out to Greene senior shortstop Caitlin Willis to end the inning.
In the bottom half of the inning, Natalie Greene reached on an error, and Hanrahan hammered a two-run homer break up the scoreless game.
Frewsburg battled right back with two runs of its own. Emily Hair’s two-run double scored pitcher Samantha Mott and Mackenzie Cass.
Gabby Sherwood worked a two-out walk for Greene in the bottom of the sixth, and moved to third base on a pair of passed balls. Stoppkotte, Greene’s number nine hitter, battled back from a two-strike count fouling off multiple pitches to draw a base on balls. Sherwood came home with the winning run on yet another passed ball. “That game was a great win for us,” Smith said. “We had some great at-bats from the bottom of the order, and Becca made some good pitches to get us out of trouble.”
The Trojans graduate four seniors – Willis, Hanrahan, Taylor Ellis, and Greene – who have substantially raised the bar of the Greene program – and future expectations. “I was so proud of how we went through the entire state tournament without making an error,” Smith said. “Usually you go back and look at a loss and talk about what we could have done better. We really did what we could do, and who would have thought as a four seed in our tournament we would beat the number two team (Elmira Notre Dame) in the state? Going to states was on our preseason goal cards, and a few more things needed to fall in place for us (in the finals). Things just didn’t go our way, but the great thing is that we really did appreciate that we were here, and we proved that we belonged. It was no fluke we were there.”
Class C Final
Greenwich 5, Greene 2
Score by Innings R H E
Gre’ich 200 003 0 5 7 0
Greene 000 020 0 2 7 0
Rachel Albrecht (W) and M. Linnett. Rebecca Hanrahan (L) and Gabby Sherwood. Doubles: (Greenwich) Dani DeGregory, Abby Dusha. (Greene) Kiley Schaff. HR: (Greenwich) DeGregory
Class C semifinals
Greene 3, Frewsburg 2
Score by innings R H E
Frews. 000 002 0 2 9 1
Gre. 000 021 0 3 4 0
Rebecca Hanrahan (W) and Gabby Sherwood. Samantha Mott (L) and Emily Foy. Doubles: (F) Mott, Mackenzie Cass, Emily Hair. HR: (G) Hanrahan. Note: Hanrahan, 2-for-2 to lead Greene.