Top-Ranked North Branford Defeats Orange 10U All-Stars

Once again, control problems plagued the Orange 9-10-year-old girls' Little League All-Star team in its District 4 Playoff championship series against North Branford. On July 9, numerous wild pitches (and passed balls) proved to be Orange’s downfall as it dropped an 8-3 contest to its Stankye Field visitors. Orange had led 3-0 after 3 ½ innings.

The best-of-three series continued on Sunday afternoon, July 10, and the story was much the same. Orange was ahead 3-2 after 4 1/2 innings and then, the wheels fell off the locals’ wagon. North Branford once again came from behind to trip Orange 7-5, sweep the first two contests, win the District 4 crown and move on to the Sectionals that get underway this week in Bridgeport.

Orange had scored a run in the top of the fifth to take its 3-2 lead. Olliva Pisano led off with a single into right-center field but was forced out at second base on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Carly Marchitto. With two outs, Bridget Barnsley slugged a double over the head of North Branford left fielder Amy Raucci that enabled Marchitto to easily score from second base.

Trailing by a run, North Branford launched its comeback with back-to-back base hits by Alexa Gallo and Julia DeWitt. After striking out Angelina Ramanda, Orange pitcher Taylor Walsh began to unravel. Three wild pitches enabled Greco and DeWitt to scoot across home plate and give the purple-clad visitors a 4-3 lead.

Things soon went from bad to worse for Orange. Syd Samerchia also drew a free pass from Walsh. Another trio of errant pitches enabled Samerchia to race around the bases and score. Winning pitcher Melissa Blakeslee beat out an infield hit and swiped second base. Danielle Ramada also walked and stole second base. Another Walsh wild pitch brought Blakeslee home to make it 6-3 and allowed Ramanda to move on to third base. She scored on an error by center fielder Nicole Hunt, who dropped Olivia Affinito’s fly ball.

With his team trailing by four runs, Orange Coach Ed Whitman decided to stop the bleeding by replacing Walsh with his daughter, Grace. She finally managed to retire the side without allowing any damage.

Coming to bat in the top of the sixth, Orange was on the short end of a 7-3 tally. Down but not out, Whitman’s girls kept battling. With 1 out Barnsley drew a free pass and moved around to third base on Walsh’s single. She stole second base to give Orange two runners in scoring position. Following Amanda Grandoso’s walk that loaded the bases, Hunt ripped a single to drive in both Barnsley and Walsh.

With the tying runs on base and two outs, Grace Whitman whacked a shot up the middle that was speared by Blakeslee, robbing Whitman of a potentially game-tying base hit. Blakeslee’s soft toss to first base retired Whitman as well as ending the game and the season for Orange.

Orange posted its first run in the top of the first inning. With one out, Nicole Koshes walked and stole second base. After Grandoso struck out, Hunt legged out an infield single. Koshes moved over to third on the base hit and raced home when Blakeslee uncorked a wild pitch. Leading 1-0, Orange loaded the bases on walks to Grace Whitman and Rachel Crow, but Marchitto looked at an inning-ending third strike.

North Branford matched that run and added another one in the bottom of the same inning. Blakeslee walked with one out, stole second base, advanced to third on a throwing error by Koshes and scored on Britney Godfrey’s single to left field. After reaching base on Koshes’ miscue, Amanda Ramada stole second and came around to score on a two-base throwing error by Grandoso. The visitors retained that 2-1 lead until Barnsley clubbed her game-tying double.

In addition to scoring five runs, Orange (which recoded 5 hits and drew 6 free passes) had runners on base in every inning and ended up stranding 10.

The 7-0 winners were led by Blakeslee (a single, a walk, 2 stolen bases, and 2 runs). She also was the winning pitcher allowing 5 runs on 5 hits. She also struck out eight Orange batters and walked six. Hunt singled twice and drove in a run for Orange (which ended its season with a 4-3 slate).