Oliver Ames Softball Ends Season With Tourney Loss to Sandwich

The Oliver Ames softball team put together a three-run rally in the final inning of Friday afternoon's South Sectional first round tournament game against Sandwich.

But in the end it was just too little, too late.

"I think by the time we came around with the big bats that we know we have, it was the 7th inning and the deficit was pretty big," Oliver Ames coach Lindsey Allison said.

The visiting No. 14 Tigers fell to No. 3 Sandwich, 11-5. OA ended its season with a 14-8 overall record.

The 17-1 Blue Knights didn't take long to prove why they earned the third seed. Sandwich's Julianna Ferguson led off with a home run in the first inning.

While OA's Jamie Gottwald scored on a pass ball in the second to tie the game, Sandwich broke out with five runs in the bottom half of the inning and never looked back.

Allison said a few mis-cues behind OA pitcher Mattea Sarnecki didn't bode well for the Tigers.

"[Sandwich] played a pretty fierce game," she said. "They played 100 percent on every play – not to say we didn’t. Just, there were a couple of mental errors and you can’t give a team like that more than three outs in an inning. They also were just hitting it where we weren’t."

Sandwich added two runs in the fourth, a run in the fifth, and two more in the sixth. OA put together a comeback attempt beginning in the sixth with a single and run scored from Melissa Krim.  Before running out of outs, The Tigers added three more in the seventh behind base-hits and runs scored from Jackie Healy, Krystina Lincoln and Nicole Cosgrove.

It was the final game for OA seniors Ariana Scurti, Lexi Soucie, Jackie Healy and Krystina Lincoln.

"They’re just a great group of kids," Allison said. "One of the things I said at senior day that holds so true is they helped make me the coach I am today from last year to this year. They’ll definitely be missed."

Allison said all four of the seniors have played a role in making the team better while leading underclassmen.

"They’re teachers," she said."They teach these kids exactly what they need to do to step into their shoes"