CHESHIRE—As Ava Pearson strolled to home plate on Tuesday in the bottom of the 12th inning of her still-scoreless CIAC Class LL semifinal game against Darien, she was asked what she was thinking in that moment.
Pearson wasn’t thinking about being the hero. She wasn’t thinking about sending her to the state championship.
Instead, her mind turned to her pitcher, Jenica Matos, who for the previous two-plus hours had thrown 173 pitches and thrown up zero after zero after zero against this year’s FCIAC champion Blue Wave.
“All I knew is I didn’t want to let Jenica have to go out there and pitch another inning,” Pearson said. “She kept us in this game for, what was it, 12 innings?”
The personal glory didn’t matter. The made-for-TikTok viral moment was secondary.
Protecting her pitcher, her friend, her sister of softball?
That’s what mattered most to Pearson, the senior center fielder who delivered a walk-off ground ball single to right field, sending the Rams to their third straight state championship and giving Cheshire a chance to defend their 2025 big-school title.
Top-seeded Cheshire will face No. 2 Southington on Saturday, at UConn’s Burrill Family Field. First pitch is 10 a.m.
When Cheshire coach Kristine Drust talks about “family,” she knows it can sound like a sports cliché.
Most teams talk about family.
Few live it.
“This is a special team,” said Drust, who is in her 25th season as a softball coach, her 13th as the Rams’ head coach. “I’ve never coached a team like this ever.”
Drust said the foundation was built years ago by a then-freshmen class that learned to be vulnerable with one another and accept each other for who they are.
“They are all so different, but they all just genuinely love, care and show concern for every single one,” Drust said. “Through their triumphs, through their fails. Coaches can ask for it, but they have to want to be that type of player and be that type of teammate.”
Tuesday’s marathon semifinal became a perfect example.
For nearly three hours, Matos and Darien ace Vivian Knott traded scoreless innings. Every time Matos walked back into the circle, her teammates knew she was carrying the burden for one more inning.
Every time the Rams came to the plate, they wanted to reward her.
When Drust was told about Pearson’s answer after the game, she wasn’t surprised.
“Isn’t that unbelievable?” Drust said. “Everybody felt that way. Because she does what she needs to do for our team out on that mound and we’re supposed to do it for her in the dugout and on offense. It pains us to have games like this and see her continue to go out there all the time when we can’t figure out how to score a run.”
For Matos, the feeling is mutual.
“They’re there for me and I’m there for them,” Matos said. “We’re a team. We really are a family honestly. We just do whatever we can to help out the next person.”
It’s a bond that has been developing long before this postseason run.
“The past four years, five years, we’ve just been a tight-knit group the entire time,” Matos said. “We’ve carried that through with us and I feel like that’s helped us moving forward and winning our games.”
Rams sercond baseman Jordan McCue said the team, especially the seniors, was close both on and off the field, and that has made such a huge difference.
“I think what makes this senior class so special is that we are all super close, even off the field,” she said. “We are always hanging out whether it’s getting food, going swimming, watching college games together or just hanging out together. I also think that what has helped is that the senior class is very welcoming to the underclassmen and it makes them feel more welcome which helps with the dynamic. And although we acknowledge people’s personal accomplishments, we are always focused on the team’s accomplishments and our success as a team.”
Now, with one game remaining in their high school careers, the seniors aren’t ready to say goodbye.
“Especially this year, we don’t want to end on a bad note,” Matos said. “We’re just happy to have one more game with each other.”
That opportunity arrived when Pearson stepped into the batter’s box with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 12th inning.
The pressure was immense.
The moment was everything a player dreams about.
But Pearson wasn’t thinking about herself.
She was thinking about the pitcher who had spent 173 pitches fighting for one more inning.
Then her coaches delivered one final reminder.
“I just knew that as soon as I saw bases loaded, Coach gave me the confidence and said I’ve been here before,” Pearson said. “This is a situation that I want to be in.”
Moments later, Pearson’s ground ball found its way into right field.
The Rams stormed out of the dugout.
Matos’ day was finally over.
And Cheshire’s family gets one more game together.
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