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04/29/2014 12:00 AMThe North Haven softball team won its third game of the season on April 28, an 8-5, 10-inning thriller over East Haven that improved the Indians to 3-0 in the SCC Oronoque Division in which they sit alone at the top.
“This being a division game is always huge,” Head Coach Sally Maher said. “This type of game gives our kids more confidence.”
North Haven (3-6, 3-0) broke through in the top of the 10th inning after relinquishing an early lead. With the game tied at 5, East Haven pitcher Talia Loda walked the first two batters of the inning, putting herself into a jam. After Loda notched her 14th strikeout of the game, her team committed three consecutive fielding miscues that resulted in runs for the Indians. First, Loda made an error after fielding a ground ball by Jill Oestreicher as she looked to pick off the lead runner at third base. Nobody was covering, however, and all runners were safe. With the bases juiced and the infield in, Antonia Barbiero slapped a ball to East Haven shortstop Allie Luzzi, who instead of coming home to keep the game tied, ran to third base to get one out as Nicole Dunlop scored the go-ahead run. Mia Martinez then hit a grounder to short, yet Luzzi couldn’t handle it. With East Haven trying to track down the ball, Oestreicher scored from second base to give North Haven a 7-5 lead. For good measure, Rachel Giatrelis singled home Barbiero to give the Indians the insurance run.
“The kids just hung in there,” Maher said. “Our bats went quiet for a while, but they decided to wake up at the right time in the 10th inning. We put the ball in play and made things happen. It was a wild one and I’m just glad that we came out on top.”
Prior to that, East Haven (5-4, 2-1) had a golden opportunity to leave the Indians out on the field in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Yellowjackets had the bases loaded with nobody out, but North Haven pitcher Haley Arnaoutis, who struck out 10 batters in her complete game performance, got two pop outs and a ground out to end the threat.
“They had us against the ropes,” Maher said. “Bases loaded with no out and we got out of it. That was a big downer for them and really took the wind out of their sails because they really should have done something. For them not to score on that was huge.”
North Haven had it going early by getting four of its seven hits in the first inning. With Giatrelis, Amanda Kenny and Dunlop having loaded the bases, Arnaoutis provided herself some run support with a bases-clearing double to right-center field. She took a pitch that was left out over the plate by Loda and hit the outfield wall on the fly, bringing home all three base runners. Arnaoutis scored on the very next pitch as Oestreicher ripped a single up the middle for a 4-0 lead.
The four-run advantage didn’t last long, however, as East Haven got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning when Jenna Gaudioso belted a two-run home run to right-center.
The Indians extended their early lead in the third inning thanks to some quality base running by Dunlop. She was issued a base on balls to open the inning, moved to second on a wild pitch, and advanced to third on a groundout. Oestreicher then came away with the big hit once again, singling through the right side and driving Dunlop home to make it 5-2.
The Yellowjackets then scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 5 and set up the dramatic 10th.