Seneca wins the sectional championship
Seneca's Bridget Hagensick scores the winning run in the bottom of seventh against Independence-Gilmanton in the Division 5 sectional championship at Bangor last Wednesday. (Photo by Charley Preusser, Crawford County Independent)
By CHARLEY PREUSSER
The Seneca softball team won the WIAA Division 5 Sectional Championship held in Bangor on Wednesday, June 23 with 3-2 victory over Independence-Gilmanton.
Seneca got off to a slow start and spotted Independence-Gilmanton two runs in the second inning–fueled by some errors and misplayed balls. The first run came on a passed ball and the second run scored when the Seneca third baseman Aubrey Wallin tried to throw a runner out at home instead of taking the third out by taking the runner going to first.
Independence-Gilmanton sat on the 2-0 lead until the bottom of the fifth inning. That’s when McKenzie Sime singled to left field and Jorja Clark’s ground ball got past the second baseman and the right fielder going all the way to the wall. Sime scored and Clark got to third, but failed to score.
However, the run in the bottom of the fifth inning narrowed the lead and made the score 2-1 in favor of Independence-Gilmanton.
Neither team scored in the sixth inning and Independence-Gilmanton went three-up-and-three-down in the top of the seventh.
Then, Seneca exploded in the bottom of the seventh inning for the 3-2 win. The leadoff hitter was pitcher Philomena Hall, who lined the first pitch to the centerfield wall for a standup triple.
Then, it was left fielder Bridget Hagensick’s turn. Like Hall, she also hit the first pitch and it went to left field wall. Hagensick’s double scored Hall and left her on second base.
Third baseman Aubrey Wallin battled at the plate and with two strikes on her, hit a ball to right field that scored Hagensick from second. The Independence-Gilmanton right fielder hit the cutoff, who made a good throw to the plate, but Hagensick had beat the throw by several steps.
It was the thrill of victory for Seneca, while the Independence-Gilmanton players were in a state of shock as they left the field. Three batters and a half dozen pitches and they had just lost the game, which they had led since the second inning.
Seneca was headed to the state tournament in Green Bay on Monday and the team from Independence-Gilmanton was headed home.
