By: Chris Barca
NAUGATUCK- Sometimes, winning a game, or in this case a championship, all comes down to one pitch.
In the bottom of the 9th inning of the Naugatuck Valley League championship, Seymour catcher Maggie Crocamo sent that one pitch over the head of Holy Cross left fielder Melissa Grocki for a game winning double, capping off a dominant 21 win season and claiming the 2011 NVL district title with a 1-0 victory.
After eight innings of spectacular shutout pitching from both Tori Cheske of Holy Cross and Stephanie Burt of Seymour, seeing the winning run finally cross home plate sent Wildcat fans, players, and coaches alike into a celebratory uproar. Assistant coach Jamie Yakushevich even took the customary championship Gatorade cooler bath from his players. With ice cold water dripping from the bottom of his shirt, coach Yakushevich said “After a nine inning game, I’ll take it. It’s such a relief to finally get that hit”
Alone in the dugout while packing up her softball bag, Crocamo, in between excited giggles, boldly calls that hit “my biggest hit ever. It’s an amazing feeling”. What makes this win even sweeter for the senior catcher and her teammates is that they achieved it against arguably the best pitcher in the league. “Tori really wanted to beat us” Maggie said. “Especially because we beat her in the regular season too”
For a seven inning span, it did not look like Tori Cheske and her Crusader teammates were going to lose to Seymour for a second time this season. In fact, Cheske held the Wildcats hitless from the first inning until the eighth, allowing only one base runner to reach first base via a fourth inning walk. As incredible as her 17 strikeout, four hit performance was though, she was outdueled by Wildcat pitcher Stephanie Burt, who hurled a resilient game herself.
The senior team captain countered Cheske with 14 strikeouts of her own, including a streak of six batters in a row late in the game. She wiggled out of jams in the fourth and eighth innings where she allowed two base runners to reach, but besides these scares, Burt kept Holy Cross’ lineup in check.
“She just kept getting better as the game went on” said coach Yakushevich, drenched cargo shorts and all. “She got in a groove and never looked back”.
Crocamo, still smiling from ear to ear, said of Stephanie Burt, “she was really awesome. She knows she can get everybody out and that’s what she tried to do”
She didn’t get everybody out but, paired with Crocamo’s game winning drive, she pitched like a champion.
What do you guys think?
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