Burlington Softball Slugs Stoneham; Moves Forward in North Division 2 Tourney

The No. 2 softball team rallied back from a 6-2 deficit in the top of the third to score five runs and beat No. 15 Stoneham High School, 7-6, on Thursday in the first round of the North Division 2 softball tournament.

The key to Burlington’s comeback? At-bats.

“As soon as they came in after that five-run inning, I told them, 'This is where you show what kind of team you are. You know, what kind of character you guys have,’ and they lived up to the challenge and did a great job,” said Burlington coach Kristen Mahoney.

“Put the ball in play and have a good at-bat,” she continued.

Stoneham (11-10) went up 5-0 in the first inning against Burlington senior captain pitcher Courtney Lanfranchi. Sophomore Gia Raczkowski, senior captain pitcher Nicolette DelVecchio, senior captain Ariana Tuccelli, junior Jessica Anthony and junior Laureen Reed all scored for the Spartans, with senior captain Holly Eicher adding Stoneham’s sixth run in the second inning.

“(Lanfranchi) started off a little bit shaky, but she definitely settled in,” Mahoney said. “And I think she knows that we have the type of team that’s going to be strong behind her, so she was able to settle in and we were able to get those runs back and hold them at the same time. Gutsy performance from her.”

But the game turned sour for Stoneham in the bottom of the third when Burlington (19-2) came back to score three runs against DelVecchio, making it a one-run, 6-5 game.

Burlington sophomore Haley Currie, sophomore Kelly McCarthy and sophomore Amy Hunter all crossed home plate.

Currie stole third and then home plate with Hunter at-bat. McCarthy ran home while Hunter stole second base with senior Amber Eisenhauer at-bat. And Hunter scored from second on Eisenhauer’s hit into deep right field for Burlington's fifth run.

“I think we got some key hits and even the girls who got out, I mean, did you see how deep the outfield was playing?” asked Mahoney. “I mean I think some of those balls were going over the fence.”

In the bottom of the fourth Burlington banged out two more runs, taking a 7-6 lead.

Senior captain Stacey Bezreh scored on Currie’s single up the middle, tying it 6-all. Then Currie made it 7-6, scoring on senior Jillian Mazure’s single up the third baseline. Currie stole second on a wild pitch with Mazure at-bat and scored from second base.

“We’ve been in a lot of one-run games this year and we’ve won all of them. I don’t think we’ve lost one of them,” Mahoney said.

“We played Stoneham twice this year, they’re in our conference, and I knew that they were not a true 15-seed. So I knew it was going to be tough and I wasn’t ecstatic to see them matched up with us, but you got to be a good team to go far so we might as well do it now, right?” continued Mahoney.

“We have a lot of heart and I give the girls a lot of credit. They didn’t give up.”

Burlington will next play Dracut High School on Saturday, June 4 at home at Marvin Field , 90 South Bedford Street.