STORRS— The Woodland Regional softball team won its third straight CIAC Class M state championship on Saturday, posting a 7-1 win over Sheehan for the crown.
Junior pitcher Ella VanAlstyne was named the Most Valuable Player for the third-seeded Hawks after holding the No. 13 Titans to a single run, scattering five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
“I think we played a good game,” VanAlstyne said. “We were all determined. We never gave up. We were always loud. It was great. I think it was a great game. Even if we weren’t really hitting great in the beginning, we always kind of pull through. In the end, we got the win.”
After dodging a bullet in the top of the second inning, when Sheehan could have taken an early lead but two spectacular defense plays kept the Titans off the board, Woodland responded.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Hawks put up three runs to take the early lead, instead.
A one-out walk by Caitlyn Braun and a two-out single by No. 9 batter Paige Chiaramonte set the stage for the top of the lineup.
Julia Rowley, the catcher who hits lead-off for Woodland, stroked an RBI ground-rule double to right center to put the Hawks on the board.
While the ball bouncing off the turf and over the fence at UConn’s Burrill Family Field cost the Hawks a run, the “disappointment” of the unlucky break was short lived.
VanAlstyne aided her own cause with a two-run single to left field and just like that Woodland led by a 3-0 score.
“It just takes so much pressure of me,” VanAlstyne said about pitching with the lead. “It is a stress reliever. I just could go out there and pitch and not have to worry about so many things. We were trying to take the energy away from them the whole entire game because we always wanted to stay on top.”
While Sheehan certainly didn’t give up on itself, it had plenty of wind taken out of its sails in the top of the inning.
Ivie Archer had led off the top of the second for the Titans with a double and would be replaced by a pinch-runner. The pinch-runner would make her way to third base on a wild pitch as Sheehan’s next batter Lily Dandorph drew a walk with nobody out.
Sheehan coach Sarah Miller asked Dandorph to steal second and as she did, from behind the plate Rowley showcased an ideal pump fake on her throw to second and quickly reared back and fired to third, catching the Titans baserunner off guard.
The pick-off notched the first out of the inning and set up another huge play two batters later.
With two outs in the inning, Sheehan’s Rylee Brunelle singled deep into the second base hole where Woodland’s Chiaramonte made a great diving stop, forcing Miller to stop her baserunner at third.
VanAlystne then got out of the inning with a strikeout before the Hawks took their three-run lead.
“They had a chance to score, and my second baseman dives and keeps the ball in the field and they don’t score?” Woodland coach Loren Luddy said. “That was big.”
It was a blow that Sheehan wouldn’t recover from.
“I would say that there were a few mental mistakes today,” Miller said. “I wouldn’t put it on just one moment. I think there’s a few things that happened mentally today that we didn’t capitalize on, and we let them score more runs than they should have. They’re a very good team. They’re a very well coached team. They hit well, they played defense well. We had to be on the top of our game to beat them today, and it just didn’t go our way.”
Woodland, meanwhile, would add to its lead by scoring runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings.
In the third, a one-out walk and stolen base by freshman Ayla DeCrescenzo preceded an RBI single from Braun to make it 4-0.
After a 1-2-3 inning by VanAlystne in the top of the fourth, Woodland pushed two more runs across the plate in the fourth.
Rowley (3-for-4, 3 runs, RBI) and VanAlystne (3-for-3, three singles, a run scored, and a walk) opened the inning with singles. With two outs, DeCrescenzo ripped a two-run double to left center and Woodland had a 6-0 lead.
“They don’t give up the at-bat,” Luddy said. “They make adjustments after their first at bat. They learn to swing at some better pitches. We got some contact in some big spots. We got the hits we needed to get.”
In the top of the sixth, Sheehan did get one run back when Reilly Hunter opened the inning with a single, moved to third on Brooklyn Stanley’s double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Archer.
After Sheehan scored, Woodland answered with one more run of its own.
A lead-off double by Rowley preceded an RBI single by VanAlystyne and the Hawks were headed for the three-peat.
What did winning three in a row mean to Luddy?
“So much,” the veteran coach said. “I mean, it’s a lot of work, but it makes all the work and all the days and all the practices worth it.”
Sheehan was the lowest seeded to make the finals, but Miller knew her team was a lot closer to pulling off the upset than the final score indicated.
“We were putting a bat on the ball and we were getting runners on base and you’re making things happen,” she said. “It’s being able to string those hits along together and making sure that they’re falling in the right spots and they just didn’t fall for us today.”
Hunter led the Sheehan attack with a pair of singles and a run scored. Stanley, Archer and Brunelle had the other hits.
Woodland, which only has two seniors (Lucia Rubano and Breanna Thurston) finished the season 24-4.
The Titans, who only lose three seniors (starting pitcher Trinity Lavalley, Archer and Hunter) finished 19-8 overall.
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