HOOKSETT – They had more hits. They didn’t give up a run after the second inning. They put runners on base every inning. They had the tying run on third base and the go-ahead run on second in the final frame.
But the Spartans from No. 6 Pembroke Academy couldn’t get those last runners home against the Spartans from No. 4 Milford, which claimed a 3-2 win for its second straight Division II softball title Saturday night at Southern New Hampshire University.
“Six seed. 3-2 ball game. Championship. I mean, I can’t ask for anything better,” Pembroke Coach Ashley Gladu said. “We left some girls on base, but we got nine hits. We were swinging the bats, things just didn’t go our way.”
It was the first softball championship game appearance in school history for Pembroke, although PA has now made it to the semifinals three of the last four years.
“They know they made history, no matter what,” Gladu said. “So we got to this stage, we got to this moment, they know what it feels like now and we’ll be back. Eventually we’ll be back, and they know it.”
Pembroke may have been playing in its first final, but Briana Connolly didn’t act like it. Pembroke’s senior catcher and leadoff hitter connected for a home run down the left-field line to open the game against Milford’s Delany Parker.
The ball hit the foul pole and bounced back into the field of play, so Connolly stopped on first before she realized she could touch them all.
“I saw it bounce back in and I was like, ‘Oh, it hit the fence, that’s good enough.’ Then I saw everyone waving me around,” said Connolly, who finished 3-for-4 and scored both of Pembroke’s runs, just like she did in the 2-1 semifinal win over No. 2 Goffstown. “That was my first home run over the fence all season and it couldn’t have come at a better time.”
That seemed to be the general consensus in the PA dugout as the team went wild before spilling out onto the field to greet Connolly at the plate.
“Ecstatic,” Gladu said of her team’s mood after the dinger. “(Connolly) has been our kid all year and to do it on this stage, she was ready from the get.”
Milford was also ready from the get. The defending champs answered with two runs in the bottom of the first on three hits and a little trickery.
Stephanie Bishop’s two-out single plated Amanda Atkinson to tie the score. Then, with the bases loaded, Milford sent its runner from first, but none of the other runners moved and the base coaches were screaming “Back!” All the action drew a throw from Connolly, which allowed Jen Carson to score from third and give Milford a 2-1 lead.
“I’ve seen that play a few times, but usually we could have gotten them out,” Connolly said. “I was hoping for a quick play back to home … it was tough.”
Milford added to its lead in the second when Atkinson (2-for-3) hit a two-out line drive to center that just went off the glove of a leaping McKaylee Loomis and plated Carley Holtshouser to make it 3-1. And that was all Milford would get against junior Stephanie Berube, who struck out three, walked one and gave up seven hits in six innings of work.
“She was excellent,” Gladu said of her pitcher. “One of those scrappy kids from Pembroke.”
The scrappy kids got one back in the top of the third. Connolly started the inning by turning a line drive to shallow center into a double with some aggressive baserunning and impressive speed, and then took third when a surprised Milford defense threw the ball away trying to get her at second. Olivia Langevin promptly plated Connolly with another hard-hit ball to center to make it 3-2.
That was all PA would get against Parker, but it wasn’t for lack of opportunities. Pembroke loaded the bases in the very next inning as Chloe Carignan, Katherine Hromis and Loomis all had singles. It looked like at least two of them would score when Connolly connected for another line drive … but it was right at Milford shortstop Jenna DeAngelis, who tagged Hromis for the double play.
“It was a hard hit, it was just right at her. There’s nothing we could do about it,” Connolly said. “I feel like if it was any one of my other at-bats, it would have been a different ball game.”
Pembroke put runners on base in the fifth and sixth, but Parker pitched around it both times. Still, PA stayed positive.
“We just tried to stay pumped and not let it get to us,” Langevin said.
They got even more pumped when Connolly led off the seventh with a single and eventually took second on a throwing error. She moved to third on a ground ball from Langevin, and PA had the tying run on third with just one out.
Parker struck out Olivia McCarty for the second out, but Berube drew a walk and then took second on defensive indifference to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. It was up to Rachel Denoncourt, who hit the ball to the outfield, but Milford left fielder Christina Arnoldy got under it for the final out.
“I’m proud of us for playing our hearts out,” Connolly said. “I feel like if we had one more inning, we would have got it.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or at tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20.)