Jun. 5—WATERFORD — Sports have this nagging way of reminding us sometimes of how much good fortune is required to hang a banner, even at a place where five of them adorn the outfield fence at Waterford High School’s palatial new softball field.
And no, the No. 4 Lancers didn’t necessarily help themselves Friday in the Class L quarterfinals, leaving six runners on base in the late innings of what would become a killer 1-0 loss to No. 5 East Haven in nine innings.
But oh, for another inch or two in the bottom of the seventh and euphoria would have replaced the tears in Waterford’s dugout.
Waterford catcher Emma Marelli led off the seventh with a deep fly to left field that ultimately hit the top of the fence, inches away from winning the game. She settled for a double, but never advanced past third.
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East Haven won the game in the ninth when Brooke Clancy homered off Maddie Burrows, a no doubter to deep center.
“When Emma hit it I thought ‘jeez, that has a chance,'” Waterford coach Andy Walker said. “But we just couldn’t cash in. We had some hitting anemia today.”
The Lancers never did solve winning pitcher Emilee Bishop, who struck out 11 and escaped jams in the sixth (two on, two out) seventh (Marelli at second, nobody out) and eighth (bases loaded, one out).
“(Bishop) did an awesome job,” Walker said. “I give East Haven all the credit in the world.”
Burrows, already committed to play at Villanova, struck out eight. She also escaped the seventh (runner on second, one out) and eighth (two on, one out).
“The first thing is that I’m glad we got to play this season,” Burrows said. “Losing like this shows us what we have to work on for next year. I don’t know what else to say.”
Walker said, “Maddie is an absolute gamer. She battled and definitely deserved a better fate. She’s the face of this team. She gave it everything she had.”
Burrows had two hits and was on base three times.
The Lancers (20-2), who had to wait two years to defend their 2019 Class M title, will have another long offseason. But most of the roster returns, including Burrows.
“My (postgame) discussion with the girls couldn’t be that lengthy because I need some time to digest this,” Walker said. “We just didn’t put forth the Lancer Way as we had all year. Winning championships is not easy and I knew it would be harder going to M to L. But we were looking forward to the challenge.”