STORRS—As the public address announcer prepped the crowd at UConn’s Burrill Family Field for the announcement of Saturday’s Class LL state championship game MVP, Fairfield Ludlowe catcher Allie Tournas excitedly pointed directly at her pitcher, Falcons senior Alex Lewey.
It would have been a well-deserved honor. After all, Lewey shined bright in Ludlowe’s 3-2, 10-inning, state-championship win over top-seeded Chersire, throwing 154 pitches, striking out eight and giving up just three walks while scattering five hits.
An MVP-worthy performance?
Absolutely.
A funny thing happened on the way to accepting the trophy, however.
Instead, a different name was announced.
Allie Tournas.
The look on Tournas’ face showed her shock.
Take a look:
“Alex is such a great pitcher,” said Tournas, a junior catcher. “She pitched her butt off this game. I was kind of shocked it wasn’t her. She just did really well. I was mind-blown. When they said my name, I was like, ‘Oh wow!’”
The little things. They mean so much. Enough of them led Ludlowe to a very big win, an epic victory that capped off a season where so many people doubted the Falcons.
If you look at the box score, Tournas’ line was simply underwhelming. To be exact, she was officially oh-for-one!
Her impact, however, was overwhelming.
In her first three at-bats, she drew three straight bases on balls.
In the top of the eighth inning, she laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved the possible go-ahead run up to second base and into scoring position with just one out.
In the 10th, her fielder’s choice put her on base, and it was her courtesy runner—a sophomore named Bella Lombardi—who would score the game’s second run during the Falcons’ three-run, go-ahead rally.
On the defensive end of a trio of innings, though, Tournas made three of the biggest impact plays in the game.
Consider:
In the bottom of the fifth of a scoreless game, Cheshire tried to bunt and sent a simple pop up into no-man’s land between the plate and pitcher’s rubber.
Tourgas popped from her crouch, took a couple of steps and dove in full gear and helmet, going into the prone position and extending as much as possible for the ball.
It fell into her catcher’s mitt for the final out of the inning.
“I was a little frustrated with myself the previous inning on a throwdown (during a stolen base) and I was like, I need to bounce back from that,” Tournas said. “I had to do something for my team to redeem myself from it. I just saw the ball go up in the air and I just needed to go for it. If I didn’t get it, it I didn’t get. But if I did?”
The go-ahead run was standing on third base when Tournas made that play.
If she doesn’t make that play, Cheshire likely wins the game and the state title.
Instead, the game remained scoreless.
One inning later, Tournas gunned down a Rams’ player trying to steal third base with one out, as well. With the second out recorded, a ground out with another runner on second base ended the inning and Cheshire’s latest threat to score.
“She has been our catcher since freshman year. She wanted it so badly today,” said Ludlowe head coach Adam Laliberte. “She was a little out of sorts in the first inning. I knew she was very nervous. We had a conversation, but then she just simply locked in. Throwing that runner out at third in a critical spot and then that crazy good play on that popped up bunt. I mean, that could have been the game right there. She doesn’t make that play, that could have been the game.”
In the bottom of the 10th inning, with Ludlowe clinging to a 3-2 lead over the Rams, Lewey inducded a foul ball toward the screen behind the plate.
As the ball went up, Tournas looked skyward waiting for its descent.
“I was just thinking, don’t drop it,” Tournas recalled. “Please don’t drop it.”
She didn’t drop it. She caught at Ludlowe had won its second straight CIAC Class LL state championship.
For all these reasons, the award was well-deserved.
How many times do coaches preach to their team about the little things?
So much, to be honest, that it has become cliché.
In Tournas’ case, however, all the little things she did in Ludlowe’s win were vital in Ludlowe’s ability to repeat as the CIAC big school-champs.
Over the course of this whole season, so many players have stepped up to lead Ludlowe back to the promised land.
The Falcons won their fourth straight FCIAC championship and their second straight state title.
And it truly was a team effort.
“Like Coach Adam said, it’s always going to be someone new each game,” Tournas said. “And it could be anyone on the team, whether it be someone who’s a starter or someone who’s just filling in. Yeah, it can be anyone.”
All the Falcons played a part in Saturday’s state championship win.
But it was Allie Tournas who did so many little things that she won a pretty big award to go with her state title.
She truly was the game’s Most Valuable Player for having such a huge impact in so many ways.
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