Mystic valley Softball Wins League Championship

Mystic Valley Girls Softball goes 3 – 0 wins the CAC (Small) Conference Championship

Mother Nature set the stage for an exciting last week of the season for the Mystic Valley girls softball team. Because of rainouts the girls played three games in three days against Commonwealth Athletic Conference opponents Chelsea, Northeast and Minuteman.  Mystic Valley entered the week 12 – 5 on the season riding a six game winning streak. 

On Wednesday, the Lady Eagles dispatched Chelsea 12 -0 on Senior Day, when Sara Marraccino and Marisa Cagno were both honored for their varsity contributions.  Pitcher Leah Thomas and the Eagles’ defense limited Chelsea to just 1 hit over five innings in the victory.

Thursday was the final regular season home game against CAC rival Northeast.  The game was highlighted by strong pitching and defense on both sides of the field and going into the sixth inning the Eagles held a narrow 3 – 1 lead.  After starting the inning with a series of walks and miscues by Northeast, Junior Rachel Tortora and Senior Marisa Cagno cleared the bases with RBI doubles to push across 8 runs in the bottom of the inning securing the victory.  The 11 – 2 final score clinched the CAC (small) championship for Mystic Valley, its first softball championship in school history.

Friday found the Eagles travelling to Minuteman Tech in Lexington for their final regular season game.  With the conference championship in hand, the Eagles had another goal for the season and that was going undefeated in the CAC small.  Minuteman Tech was in no way going to hand over that win easily.  A back and forth struggle had the Eagles down 2 -1 after the first frame.  They tied it at 2 in the second only to have Minuteman go back up 4 -2 in the third.  After tying the game again at 4 in the fourth, the home team pushed the lead to 6 – 4 going into the top half of the seventh.  Senior Sara Marraccino, batting over .600 on the season, led off the seventh for the Eagles with a triple.  After one out, Junior Rachel Tortora followed with an RBI double to bring the score to 6 -5.  Junior Violet Sullivan followed with an RBI single to tie the score at 6 – 6.  A stolen base and hit batsman brought Junior Michelle Doherty to the plate with the score tied and she executed a perfect squeeze bunt bringing across Violet Sullivan with the go ahead run.  Junior Jordan Sullivan came to the plate after the second out was made and delivered a clutch two out single to center field plating two more runs and giving the Eagles a 9 -6 lead.  “It was one of those games that both coaches knew, you could never have too many runs” commented Coach Barry after the game.  Minuteman Tech pushed hard in the seventh adding two runs to bring the score to 9 – 8 and had the tying run at second base when the final out was recorded. 

The Mystic Valley Eagles completed the season with a 15 – 5 record, going 10 – 0 in CAC small conference play.  It is the first conference championship for the Lady Eagles in school history and the fifth time in 6 years of softball as a varsity sport at the school that the team has qualified for the State Tournament.  The Eagles have been anchored all season by the battery of catcher Meghan Foley and pitcher Leah Thomas as well as outstanding team defense and a potent offense averaging more than 10 runs a game.