MOODUS—On a sun-splashed Saturday afternoon, when a right arm and a left arm both chased and made history, it was two feet that made the final difference in Ellington’s 1-0, 14-inning win over Hale-Ray in a matchup of CIAC undefeated teams.
Sophomore Tyla Gambacorta raced home from third base on a wild pitch with two outs in the top of the 14th inning, giving the Knights a win on a day when senior starting pitcher Camryn Fisher broke the state record for strikeouts, fanning 37 over what was basically two games wrapped up into one.
“I was telling the other coaches it’s probably the greatest game I’ve ever been involved in coaching,” said Ellington head coach Tom Gordon, who has been around the base paths a time or two in his career.
While Fisher and Hall-Ray’s Lily Jahne combined to strike out 70 over the 14 innings it took to score a single run, all it took was a couple of unlucky breaks for one team to be the luckiest break for the winning team.
Gambacorta led off the 14th with a walk. Alyssa Corsino lofted a pop fly into the no-man’s land between shortstop and left field.
The Hale-Rale shortstop drifted out. The H-R left fielder sprinted in. Neither player audibly called for the pop-up loud enough for the other to hear and the error left both Knights base runners safe on first and second with nobody out.
With one out, freshman Alexis Flori laid down a sacrifice bunt to push both Ellington runners into scoring position.
One wild pitch later and Ellington had a 1-0 lead.
“Tyla is our most aggressive and fastest and best base runner,” Gordon said. “I might have mentioned to her a pitch or two before that if the ball went over the catcher’s head, I said, ‘Be ready because if it goes to the backstop, you’re going no matter what’, because otherwise we could have been here for another hour.”
One wild pitch later, Ellington had its run and the win that improved the Knights’ record to 6-0 on the season.
“As soon as I saw that ball go, I was like, this is the breaking point. This is the time we’re going to end this game right now,” Gambacorta said. “I ran as fast as I could, and I knew I was going to have to beat that ball. You got to do what you got to.”
Everything else was Fisher vs. Jahne in an epic matchup of two pitchers who are taking their game to the Division 1 level.
Fisher, who originally had committed to Syracuse before changing her choice to Appalachian State, not only broke the state record for strikeouts in a game but did so in impressive fashion.
Through seven innings, she was perfect as she struck out 21 of the first 21 batters of the game. She fired 165 pitches, throwing 135 pitches for strikes. In other words, over 14 innings of play, she only threw 30 balls—a little more than two an inning.
“Cam was spectacular as always,” Gordon said. “She’s just having a great year. I believe that was her first walk of the season. We’re 6-0 now, so one walk in six games? That’s impressive.”
It was more than impressive.
It was historic.
Fisher had already struck out 21 over the course of a seven-inning game this season.
This time out, though, her 37 strikeouts broke the state record set by Masuk legend Rachele Fico on April 23, 2009, when she beat Westhill in 11 innings.
“Everyone clutched up,” Fisher said. “I mean, what? Fourteen innings? It was crazy. It just means all my hard working is paying off. I’m proud of myself, but I just want to keep doing more.”
Both pitchers had perfect games through seven innings.
In the bottom of the eighth, Hale-Ray’s Makenzie Albert broke up Fisher’s perfect game with a bunt single as she led off the bottom of the eighth.
She then stole second to get into scoring position.
A sacrifice bunt attempt was popped up and Fisher induced a pair of strikeouts to get out of the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth the Noises did it again.
Hall-Ray’s Brielle Dean reached on a bunt single. She stole second and moved to third on a passed ball, but Fisher escaped with three strikeouts—the last of which was a bunted third strike to send the game to the 10th.
Both teams put runners on in the 11th via walks (to no avail) and Hall-Ray had a batter reach on an error in the bottom of the 13th with two outs.
One inning later, however, Ellington was able to push a run across and in the home half of the inning a defensive gem iced the win.
With one out, Hale-Ray’s Autumn Landry reached via a bunt single. She stole second and moved to third on a passed ball with just one out recorded.
After Faith Kalisz laid down a bunt to third base, it was Gambacorta scooping up the ball and tossing to it Ellington catcher Madison Havener, who made the tag for the second out of the inning.
One batter later, Fisher notched her state record 37th strikeout to end the game.
“We were so hyped,” Fisher said. “It felt like a playoff game. We’re so young and this just shows how tough we can be.”
Hale-Ray might have lost the game, but head coach Michele Atkins promised her team that they would raise the bar this season and they did so against last year’s Class L runners-up, who are ranked fifth in the latest GametimeCT.com poll.
“The beginning of this year, we really talked about raising the bar. That’s our motto for this year,” Atkins said. “We said we want the best teams in the state on our schedule, and that’s how we’re going to raise the bar. So, we couldn’t wait for this game. And we are really, really proud of our girls. They held their own, the defense backed up the pitcher today. I couldn’t be more proud to have been in this game with them and had the score that we have. I mean, I do think, in my opinion, we outplayed them. We had a hit. They didn’t have a hit. We had bunting. We had stealing. I think it just came down to the one error.”
As good as Fisher was, Jahne was just as brilliant.
She might have had four less strikeouts, but for 14 innings she didn’t give up a single earned run or a single hit.
“I knew coming in, she was a great pitcher, and I was excited to compete against her,” said Jahne, the junior who is taking her talents to St. John’s in a couple of years. “I feel like I’m just proud of me and my catcher. We worked together, made sure that every at bat we were intense. We didn’t give up. Even in the 14th inning, we were still going, and that means a lot to me. I feel like it showed, especially our team, what we’re capable of, but also myself, what I’m capable of. I’m really proud of myself.”
Jahne threw 184 pitchers, 129 of which went for strikes. She only walked three against her 33 strikeouts, which leaves her second on the state’s list of most K’s in a game behind Fisher.
Ellington hosts Bolton Tuesday while Hale-Ray, which slipped to 6-1, travels to Cromwell on Monday.
(Editor’s Note: In our cover photo above, Ellington’s Tyla Gambacorta reacts after scoring the game’s lone run. Photo by John Nash)
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