Freshman pitcher Bailey Cassin did it again. She pitched 9⅔ innings with her trustworthy freshman catcher Kiley Taylor and kept the Concord High softball team in its Division I semifinal game with undefeated defending champion Londonderry on Wednesday.

The No. 12 Crimson Tide (12-8) had upset two teams to whom it had lost during the regular season, beating fifth-seed Winnacunnet and fourth-seed Goffstown to make it to the semis.

In the D-I semifinals, Concord went up against No. 1 Londonderry and took the Lancers deep into extra innings but ultimately fell by the slimmest of margins, 2-1, with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Cassin and the Tide defense held up through many difficult innings as the Lancers’ batters kept trying to break the deadlock. Cassin had 20 strikeouts on the night and only allowed six walks and a handful of hits.

“I’m proud of all of us because I don’t think any of us thought we were going to be here, so it’s really big. Especially to have the game we had,” Cassin said after the game.

Smart baserunning by the Lancers (21-0) in the bottom of the 10th got a runner to third with two outs. Sophomore Shannon Crowley then hit a single that snuck through to center field to walk off the game and end the Tide’s Cinderella run.

The season overall was one of ups and downs. Head coach Duke Sawyer said that many of the difficult growing pains that the Tide faced in the beginning of the season made the team tougher. They found themselves in holes but learned how to fight and claw back in games, and even though the semifinal ended in defeat, Sawyer felt confident that this team would return.

“I told them, ‘We know the road up here now. We know how to get here, up (I-)93. We’ll be back,’ ” he said. “It’s just different from anything they’ve ever done before. This is different, and they learned so much today and in this playoff run.”

The team’s seniors, Avery MacDonald, Andie Moreira, Tess Bolduc and Laura Lorenze, walked off the field with that bittersweet sensation – knowing that their time for the Tide was up but that the underclassmen would carry this experience into next year.

“They were very good leaders. We’re going to miss them next year. They led our team to where we are now,” Cassin added on seniors’ impact.

Moreira and Bolduc will both move on to play collegiate softball in the fall, and MacDonald will play volleyball at the next level. They were part of the championship-winning Tide team in 2023 and have propped up the next generation to try and make it back.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com.