TRUMBULL—In the summer months, as his players work tirelessly on their craft, Brian Jacobs often finds himself driving to far-flung fields all over the tri-state region to watch his Warriors play travel softball. Simply put, he is a coach who always shows up for his team.
On Saturday morning, however, Jacobs was not in the dugout as the Warriors traveled to Trumbull for an important FCIAC matchup. Jacobs lost his father last week and spent the weekend with his immediate family. But his softball family held their coach deep in their hearts, and they certainly showed up for him against the Eagles.
Katie McKay launched a solo home run and pitcher Leianna Cross aided her own cause with a two-run double as Wilton stunned Trumbull, 3-0.
“Coach Jacobs texted me this morning and said, ‘The only thing I want you to tell the girls is to have fun,’” said Wilton assistant coach Mallory Rochefort. “I think they accomplished that.”
The game was a classic pitcher’s duel for five innings as Cross and Trumbull’s Madison Pippa traded zeroes on the scoreboard. In the top of the sixth, the Warriors finally broke through. With one out, McKay sent a solo shot over the right-center field fence to give Wilton a 1-0 lead.
“In the dugout, we were just talking about trying to see the ball and hit it; I was just trying to get a base hit,” said McKay, who had two of Wilton’s six hits off Pippa. “It just happened to go over. I think it really got everybody ready and hitting.”
It certainly did. Anna West followed with a bloop single to left and Emma Roos ripped a double to the left-center fence, putting runners on second and third. Following a strikeout for the second out, Cross delivered a clutch two-run double, tripling the lead to 3-0 with one swing of the bat.
“They’re definitely the best hitting team in the FCIAC,” Trumbull coach Tom Pia said. “I told the team last week, ‘Geez, I saw Wilton play last night. They’re the best hitting team I’ve seen.’ They hit the ball, their pitcher pitches to contact, and their fielders—they must have made four or five plays out there that were so impressive.”
The win improved Wilton’s overall record to 7-2 (3-1 FCIAC), while Trumbull slipped to 6-3 (2-2 FCIAC).
In the circle, Cross limited the Eagles to just four hits. While she walked five and struck out one, the Warriors’ defense was clinical behind her.
“I just trusted my team,” Cross said. “I wasn’t doing my best, but I was working hard and trying to pitch strikes. I just trusted my defense.”
The Eagles let a handful of opportunities slip away both before and after Wilton took the lead. In both the first and second innings, Trumbull left runners stranded on second and third. Two-out walks in the third and fifth innings were also left on base.
The Eagles looked to answer immediately in the bottom of the sixth when Julia Terry (2-for-2, 1 walk) led off with a single. With one out, however, the Warriors turned a perfect 6-3 double play on a ball hit up the middle to escape the jam. In the seventh, a two-out walk and a Wilton error gave the Eagles a final spark of life, but Cross induced one last groundball to clinch the win.
“Lei had a difficult start to the year in a few games, but we have all the confidence in her and her teammates have confidence in her,” Rochefort said. “I think today she knew that she needed a good game, and she gave it to us.”
Coach Pia has been around the game long enough to know these types of games happen.
“We hit the ball, but they made every single play,” Pia said. “You’ve got to tip your hat to them. Then they got the big hit. This game was going to come down to whoever scored first. We had opportunities two innings in a row and just didn’t score. We just have to keep going in a positive direction.”
For Trumbull, Pippa and Ella Ferris also recorded hits. For Wilton, Emma Van Heyst added a hit to the Warriors’ winning effort.
SLIDESHOW
Leave a Reply