Published on GazetteNet.com on June 20, 2015 and appeared in print on June 22, 2015
AMHERST — With one out and Reading Memorial’s tying run on second base in the bottom of the seventh, the Hampshire Regional softball team had to lock down on defense.
Shortstop Savannah Waters cleanly fielded a grounder and made the out at first. Two down.
Seven pitches later, the senior’s reflexes took over. Waters caught Stephanie Ghostlaw’s two-strike line drive as the Raiders beat the Rockets, 2-1, in the state Division 2 state final at UMass’ Sortino Field on Saturday.
“I don’t remember (it),” Waters said. “It was coming toward me and I was like, ‘This can’t really be happening. It can’t be this easy.’ I was like, ‘Don’t drop it.’”
It was the Raiders’ first state finals appearance and they finished the season 21-4. The Rockets closed at 22-4. Hampshire had previously lost in the state semifinal round in 2009, 2012 and 2014.
“I’m proud of my team. I’m proud of the way they played,” Hampshire coach Brian McGan said. “I’m proud of the way they’ve played in the past. We’ve been striving for this goal my whole career as a coach and I’m sure their whole careers as players. I make this a goal. I really do.”
Waters was a starter on the ’12 and ’14 Western Mass. champion teams. She not only ended her career with the final two outs, but also had the go-ahead run in the fifth. She is one of three seniors on the roster, as she, Lilly Rubeck and Marissa McCarthy graduated two weeks ago. McCarthy was the only Raider with two hits in the championship.
“We’ve been close enough to kind of get a feel for it, but we’ve never been right here,” Waters said. “The fact that it’s my senior year and we did it finally — it’s our first time in the history of our school that softball has even been here, to win it too, that’s pretty exciting.”
The late-game defense backed ace Alexis Ferris, who took a 1-hitter into the seventh after striking out five of the first six batters.
“My fastball, curveball and riseball really got me through the game,” she said. “I just tried to stay calm, take a deep breath before every pitch. It worked.”
The junior hit her spots and got strikes early. In a reverse from previous postseason games, Ferris came out strong and had to wait for the bats to crack. Ferris closed her junior campaign with a three-hit, seven-strikeout, no-walk complete-game victory.
“It was fun for me to call the pitches because she was hitting everything I was calling,” McGan said. “Every once in a while, she’d miss, but those were good misses. She made the hitters uncomfortable, which is even better.”
Ferris struck out the side in the second inning. In the third, Hannah Dudley-Youngs beat the throw to first after dropping a swinging bunt down the third-base line. She stole second, but Ferris stranded her there with a swinging strikeout. Three consecutive 1-2-3 innings kept her at one over the minimum until the seventh inning, which she took comfort in as rain started to fall.
“That kind of helped me to stay calm, and I was like, ‘OK. I got this,’” Ferris said.
A leadoff double to right-center field by Ashley Tango started Reading’s late rally. Fallon Tierney flied out to Katy O’Connor in right field, but cleanup hitter Carly Mello doubled to left-center to bring in Tango and cut the lead in half.
“I was feeling pretty good,” McGan said. “And then seventh inning came and I said, ‘Who’s up?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, boy. It’s not going to be easy.’ But it turned out good.”
Waters put the Raiders on the board in the fifth. McCarthy ripped a leadoff single up the middle and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Paige Sullivan. She came home on Waters’ double to deep-center field.
“It felt good,” Waters said. “I got my hands around the right way and it just kind of happened.”
Rockets pitcher Michaela Reeves cooled off the Raiders with a swinging strikeout of Chelsea Moussette and forced Danielle McGan to ground out to end the inning.
As quick as Ferris sat down Reading’s 5-6-7 hitters in the bottom of the inning, Reeves did the same in the top of the sixth. Reeves also fanned seven, while scattering seven hits over seven innings.
“She did what Alexis did, she shut the door on us,” McGan said. “I don’t like (pitchers’ duels). I’m sure it was fun for everyone to watch.”
In the seventh, Hampshire got an insurance run when McCarthy singled to right field and scored from first on a throwing error by Reeves, who fielded a hit by Sullivan and overthrew first.
The Raiders stranded runners in three innings. Moussette singled and stole second in the first. Rubeck added a hit in the second and in the fourth, Lilly West’s courtesy runner Danielle Buzzee was left on second with O’Connor on first.
While a few more runs could have made the ending more comfortable, finishing on top is all that mattered for the Raiders.
“It hasn’t really sunk in,” McGan said. “At this point in the year, if you’re on top, it doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you’re on top.”