With two outs and the tying run on second base in the top of the seventh, Norwich Tech junior pitcher Autumn Hanks, who is described as “unflappable” by her coaches, fielded a comebacker off the bat of O’Brien Tech’s Cloe Tomasella.
A perfect throw to first base was all the Warriors needed now to win the Connecticut Technical Conference softball championship.
“I knew I had it,” Hanks said. “I was like, just take it easy, don't rush it. This is it.”
Hanks’ toss to first baseman Diana Kozerefski was, indeed, perfect.
One year after losing to the defending champion Condors in this same game , it was Norwich Tech’s turn to celebrate.
After squandering an early eight-run lead, the Warriors rallied for four runs in the bottom of the sixth and ended O’Brien Tech’s three-year reign as CTC champions with a thrilling 14-13 victory at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven.
“This was our goal at the beginning of the year,” Norwich Tech co-coach Pam Pinch said. “They worked hard to get here. We moved kids around from one position to another and put them in positions that they never played before. And they just do the job.”
The top-seeded Warriors (16-7) defeated Kaynor Tech and Ellis Tech to reach their second consecutive CTC tournament final.
“We’re so happy for the girls,” Norwich Tech co-coach Adam Lachendro said. “It’s a good group.”
Trailing 12-10 in the bottom of the sixth, the Warriors had the bottom of their order due up. The way Norwich Tech outslugged their opponents this season, however, it didn’t matter who was stepping up to the plate.
“Our offense has been carrying us all year,” Pinch said. “Our bottom has come through every time. The top of the order is there to hit them in.”
It’s a lineup that features just one senior, catcher Morgan Cook.
“To have a lineup that can hit one through nine is amazing,” Cook said. “It wasn’t the top, it wasn’t the bottom. It was everyone. We relied on our hitting all season and we showed it.”
Warriors sophomore Nyomi Barboza started the rally with a lead-off single. Barboza was forced out at second on Kozerefski’s grounder to short but the Stimson sisters, freshmen Carden and Maya, hit back-to-back singles to load the bases.
The Warriors ninth batter, junior Evelyn Brimmer, who hit for the cycle two weeks ago, was hit by a pitch to make it 12-11. Norwich Tech leadoff hitter, junior Khai Maldonado, who blasted a home run in the third inning, delivered the biggest hit of the season, a two-run single to center that gave the Warriors a 13-12 lead.
“There was definitely pressure but that’s how diamonds are made,” Maldonado said. “It’s just something you have to take on forever. I just think the pressure is what makes us better.”
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After a strikeout, O’Brien Tech elected to walk Cook with runners on second and third. Cook was 3-for-4 with a triple and four RBIs. But Hanks followed with an infield hit, giving the Warriors a 14-12 cushion with a big insurance run.
Hanks got two quick outs in the top of the seventh before Lahni Dumas kept the Condors’ hopes alive with a double to left center. Ava Sharkey singled to right field, closing the gap to 14-13.
Pinch and Lachendro then gambled by walking Nyana Torres and placing the tying run on second base. Torres, a senior first baseman, sparked the Condors comeback from an 8-0 deficit with a grand slam over the left field fence in the third inning. She also reached the fence with doubles in both the fifth and sixth innings to help O’Brien Tech take the lead.
“I wasn’t letting her get up again,” Pinch said. “It’s a big gamble but we had two outs.”
“We weren’t going to let her beat us,” Lachendro added.
After intentionally walking Torres, Hanks got Tomasella to hit a comebacker for the final out.
“Hanks did awesome,” Pinch said. “We’ve ridden her since Maya (Stimson) has been injured.”
Stimson hurt her arm midway through the season and Hanks, the Warriors’ infielder/outfielder who didn’t pitch last season (the Warriors had All-State and current Elms College pitcher Caity Flynn in the circle), became the starting pitcher.
“We gave her the ball and told her it was hers and get out there and do it,” Pinch said. “Today was her best performance on the mound, in my opinion. She had very few walks today and didn’t hit any batters.”
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Norwich Tech built an 8-0 lead through the first two innings. Cook and Barboza had RBI hits in the first inning off Condors starter Marley Orosz.
The Warriors erupted for six runs in the second. Highlights included RBI singles from Brimmer and Maldonado, a two run double by Nani Garcia (three hits), a two-run single by Cook, and an RBI hit by Kozerefski.
“We treated that lead like it was 2-0,” Lachendro said. “You don’t want to get too comfortable.”
O’Brien Tech (19-4) roared back. Torres’s grand slam made it 8-4 and then the Condors chipped away. Taking advantage of some Norwich Tech miscues, O’Brien Tech tied it at 9 on Alona Reboira’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.
Cook gave the Warriors a short-lived 10-9 lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.
O’Brien Tech answered in the sixth, taking their first lead on Brielle Moore’s RBI single and a bloop two-run single from Hailey Jennings that made it 12-10.
It set the stage for some late inning heroics for the Warriors and a softball championship banner headed to Mahan Drive.
“We never once lost faith,” Lachendro said. “Even when we went down by two we knew we were going to hit the ball again. We knew we were going to come back. The girls had great energy. It was unbelievable.”
“It’s amazing to get back to this point and it’s even a bigger accomplishment to win it,” Cook said. “I’m just so proud of these girls. We battled throughout the season. We had more losses this season than the last one and we didn’t give up.”
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: 'We never once lost faith': Norwich Tech softball rallies to win CTC title in 27-run game
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