Stoughton High Softball Keeps Postseason Hopes Alive

The Stoughton High Softball team had its back against the wall, entering the final home game of the season, against . The Black Knights entered the contest in the midst of a five-game losing streak and faced a must-win situation to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Stoughton also needed help from first place Oliver Ames who needed to defeat Foxboro. OA did its part with a 7-1 victory over the Warriors, who came into the day battling Stoughton for second place in the Hockomock League Davenport Division (small schools).

Stoughton fell behind early, 2-0, but stormed back to score 10 unanswered runs to take a 10-2 victory, Monday afternoon, over the Bulldogs. 

Stoughton, 7-10 overall, still has work to do and now must win at Sharon on Thursday to clinch second place in the Davenport which will secure a Division 1 South Sectional postseason berth. 

Stoughton can't finish above .500, so its only path to the postseason is a second place finish in the Davenport, which can only happen if Stoughton beats . 

Stoughton will wrap up its regular season on Wednesday with a crossover contest against the team from the Hockomock League Kelley-Rex Division (large schools) that ended the season in the same position in the standings as Stoughton did.

The Bulldogs scored single runs in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead. Angelina Salcedo had an RBI single to get the Bulldogs on the scoreboard, and in the second inning Sam Devane stole home to give Canton the early two run lead.

Janet Sullivan, the Stoughton coach, wanted to give each of her 18 players on the roster time in the game, especially her 12 seniors. Sullivan did so, but managed to work her starters back into the lineup and gain control of the contest.

The turning point of the contest came in the top of the third, with Canton leading, 2-0, and threatening to break the game open with bases loaded and no outs. Stoughton sophomore pitcher Emily Cramer then got back on track, striking out the next three Canton batters to get out of the inning still trailing by only two runs. 

From then on Cramer pitched a shutout, allowing only three hits over the final four innings, while her teammates’ bats awoke.

“We got off to a good start and had a chance to get a big lead, but we let a golden opportunity get away from us,” said Canton coach Ed Amico. “Then we began to give up walks and commit errors and you can’t do that against a good team like Stoughton and expect to hold a lead. We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities and we gave our opponent too many chances, and that unfortunately has been our story this whole season.”

Meanwhile, the Stoughton bats came alive, scoring four runs in the third inning and three each in the fifth and sixth innings off of Canton hurler junior Sam Sullivan.

Payton Pizzano, a freshman, and senior Katherine Chlus both walked with the bases loaded. Jess Freitas followed with a two-run single giving Stoughton a 4-2 advantage entering the fourth inning.

In the fifth inning, senior Hannah Carpenter delivered an RBI single followed by RBI singles off of the bats of junior Michelle Bisbee and senior Felicia Baptista.

Carpenter came through once again, in the sixth inning, with a hard hit single to right field, scoring two runs. Chlus followed with an RBI single to account for the final run for Stoughton.

“We didn’t come out eager or ready to play, but fortunately we got our heads into the game before it was too late and turned the game in our favor,” Sullivan said. “We wanted to give everyone a chance in the last home game and it was good to see everyone contribute to the win and break our losing streak. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

Download the movie