Somers Softball Advances to Class S Semifinals

With an early lead and one of the area’s best pitchers on the mound in JoJo Meunier, the Somers softball team could have been forgiven for going into cruise control against Notre Dame-Fairfield in the Class S Quarterfinals Friday at .

Still, Somers head coach Melanie Zamorski wasn’t about to let her team rest, pushing them between innings to expand their 3-0 lead.

It took a Lancers' rally sparked by a pair of fielding miscues  for the Spartans to finally heed their coach’s advice, as Somers pushed across five runs in the bottom of the sixth to secure a 7-3 win and move to the  semifinals for the second year in a row.

“I told them that we can’t be complacent,” Zamorski said. “I think we take for granted that [Meunier] is good. She does slip and put runners on base and if we make errors we need  to get her back and not expect her to do it all herself.”

The senior took a no-hitter in the fifth inning before Paula Bannon laced a two-strike single that glanced off the second base bag and into center field. She walked the next two batters to load the bases with one out before getting Abbey Baricko to pop out to short, bringing up Nicole Negron.

Meunier went ahead 0-2 on the Lancers' senior, who fouled off eight pitches, the last of which was popped in the wind near the Somers dugout and  tracked down by first baseman Danielle Chokas.

“I just kept throwing strikes - I didn’t want to give her any reason to walk. I just wanted to beat her,” Meunier said.

“That was probably the play of the game right there,” Zamorski said of Chokas’ catch. “I think she threw a changeup on that and Danielle just went and grabbed it.”

While Meunier escaped in the fifth, the Lancers finally got to her in the sixth. Brittany Perez and Jordan D’aurio started the inning with back to back singles. Kayla Frosceno dropped a bunt down the third base line, reaching as Kayla Stetson’s throw pulled Chokas off the bag. 

Perez scored on the play and D’aurio came home when Chokas made an errant throw back to Stetson.

Frosceno wound up at third, giving Notre Dame a chance at the tying run with no outs.

“We knew if we’d be patient and keep seeing more pitches we could have an opportunity to score some runs,” Lancers head coach John Schack said.

But Somers escaped, as Taylor Springer’s grounder to a drawn in Stetson turned into a double play when Frosecno was tagged out at home. Bannon lofted a popup to second to close the inning.

The Spartans appeared ready to head to the seventh with the score intact, but Meunier grounded a two-out single up the middle to make it 4-2, and Samantha Urbon smacked a three-run double that glanced off Jamilla Pommills' glove in right center.  

Notre Dame added a run in the top of the seventh when Negron laced an RBI double to left, but it wasn’t enough.

“Chasing five [runs]  is tough,” Schack said. “Chasing one is doable, and even at two I feel comfortable that we had a chance.”

For Somers, the Lancers' rally proved to be what they needed to get the bats going again.

“When they started to score some runs we got a little riled because we haven’t given up many runs lately,” Meunier said. “I think we did a good job of coming together.”

The righthander  finished with six strikeouts, allowing four hits and one earned run.

“Her curve was working well and when she got ahead in the count we would go away and try to keep them off balance,” Zamorski said.

Meunier  was also 3-for-4 at the plate, driving in the Spartans' opening  run with a first inning single. Julie Folger finished 1-for-3, knocking in Somers' other first inning runs.

Frosceno struck out four while allowing six hits in a losing effort for the Lancers.

No. 5 Somers (19-4) will face top-seeded Terryville (20-2) in the semifinals next week, while No. 20 Notre Dame ends with a 12-11 record.