Stoughton High Softball Downs Foxborough in Extra Innings

Twice in the final three innings of play in the Stoughton High softball team's game against visiting Foxborough Wednesday afternoon, Gina McGaughey stepped up to bat with multiple runners on, and the chance to give Stoughton the lead. 

She delivered both times, with the second at bat giving Stoughton a walk-off win, 5-4, in extra innings.

As a result, Stoughton improves to 2-3 on the season. Foxborough, meanwhile, falls to 1-4. 

The Warriors jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, with Lindsey Cunniff and Eva Mazzoni coming around to score in the top of the first. 

Stoughton responded with a run in the bottom of the first when pitcher Emily Cramer helped her own cause with a RBI single to score Nicole Bodette.

But both pitchers, Ari Zanecchia for Foxborough and Cramer for Stoughton, settled down after that, with the score remaining 2-1 in favor of Foxborough until the bottom of the sixth.

Pizzano led off the bottom of the sixth for Stoughton with a triple. Megan Flaherty then doubled to drive in Pizzano and tie the game. With two outs, McGaughey put the ball in play and a Foxborough error allowed Flaherty and Emma Sinkus (pinch running for Cramer) to score, giving Stoughton a 4-2 lead.  

But Foxborough fought back. With the Warriors just one strike away from defeat in the top of the seventh inning, pinch hitter Micaela Galley ripped the pitch to right field, scoring two and tying the game.

The Black Knights put multiple base runners on again in the bottom of the seventh, but this time Zanecchia got out of a jam, and the game went into extra innings. 

Each team starts with a runner on second base in extra innings. Foxborough couldn't take advantage of its opportunity, with the third out of the inning being recorded at home. 

Stoughton, meanwhile, started its half of the eighth with Emma Zuk laying down a bunt, with the ball landing just a few feet from home plate. Zuk reached first safely and advanced runner Emma Sinkus to third. 

Two batters later, McGaughey put the ball in play again, Foxborough couldn't field it cleanly, and Sinkus came around to score the winning run. 

"It was an exciting high school game," Stoughton coach Janet Sullivan said. "I just give my kids credit, they hung in there. We fell behind and tied it up and had a couple of innings where we really had to come up with some big defense and we seemed to have those moments."

Zuk's bunt single didn't stray far from home, but it was the catalyst to Stoughton's eighth inning rally. 

"We spent a lot of practice [Tuesday] working on bunts," Sullivan said. "Tight games in high school softball often come down to if you can get the bunt down or not, and Emma placed it perfectly."

Offensively, Bodette reached base three times from the leadoff spot (two hits and hit by a pitch), Pizzano had a single and a triple, and Flaherty was 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles.

Stoughton is next in action Monday, April 22 against Oliver Ames at home.