Mansfield Softball Beats Braintree 4-3 to Advance to the Division 1 South Quarterfinals

 

The Mansfield High softball team beat Braintree, 4-3 on Friday and is moving on to the Division 1 South quarterfinals in a very close game.

Mansfield struck first in the first inning with an RBI single from Trish Hansen after Brianna Chiusano moved from second to third.

Braintree hit back at the bottom of the inning with a single RBI from Abigail Lucas. Braintree followed up in the second inning with a 1-2-3 cycle against Mansfield, but Mansfield answered with the same to keep the score tied.

The Hornets found their momentum in the third inning with another RBI from  Hansen to bring in Chiusano. Kelly English batted in Michaela Bowes to bring Mansfield to a stronger lead at 3-1.

Braintree picked up steam in the fourth inning. Emily Lambiase hit a single RBI after Kelsey Dillon hit a shot to left field for a double. Marisa Quinn followed up with a triple for another run to tie the game at three points.

Mansfield's Hansen batted in Chiusano again in the fifth on a pop fly to bring Mansfield in the lead again. 

Braintree threatened in the sixth, and with a runner on second and third seemed like they were going to tie or overtake Mansfield, but a ground ball to shortstop stopped their run. 

Mansfield was unable to increase their lead in the final inning. Braintree’s Katie Casey hit a single followed by foul out caught by catcher Kelly English that ended in a controversial double play. Braintree's coach asked for an appeal to the play claiming that Mansfield's first base did not have her foot on the base. The call stood, and Mansfield managed to get the last out on the next batter to win the game.  

Mansfield’s head coach Jinneane Sperrazza said that despite a few problems with the defense she felt the Hornets played very well.

“Defense struggled,” she said. “This is our first night game, I think maybe some of them lost the ball in the lights. But our senior leadership came through… I wanted to say one thing about senior leadership in Trish Hansen. So after the second inning she comes running in and this is her quote: ‘Listen up and listen good, that pitcher throws a meatball down the plate every first pitch, swing at the first pitch.’ And what do we do? Bri [Chiusano] gets a single, Michaela [Bowes] gets a single, Trish [Hansen] gets a single and Kelly [English] gets a single.”

Braintree head coach Tom Grandy said that allow they didn’t come out on top, he’s very proud of his players and that he wouldn’t have done anything differently.

“When we had opportunities to make some plays we didn’t and it hurt us,” he said. “We were always coming from behind and it’s tough.”