Norwood Advances in a Nerve-Wracking First Round

No one said the road to the state finals would be easy. And for the Norwood girls' softball team that proved to be true Saturday night at Balch Field against a tough Somerset Raiders program that had an upset-minded approach against Ali Maloof and the Mustangs.

“It got a little hairy at the end,” said Norwood head coach Carol Savino, who watched her Mustangs hang on for the 3-2 win, which advances the girls to a match-up Monday night against either Silver Lake or Braintree.

Clinging to a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh, Maloof struck out the first Raider hitter but allowed a double to Page Gouveia, putting a runner in scoring position with less than two outs.

Maloof stuck with her rising fastball to get the next batter to pop out to short, before blowing a screwball past Emily Gabriel for the final out of the game that left the Norwood faithful sighing in relief.

Maloof pitched the complete game for the win allowing just four hits and striking out eight Raiders, none bigger than the final out.

Maloof talked about the Gabriel at-bat, saying, “I was trying to blow it by her, tried to get her to pop it up or something, just to get her out.”

“She is a heck of a pitcher,” said Savino of Maloof, “and everybody knows it.”

The Mustangs were able to get on the board first when Lauren Duggan led off with a single up the middle. A great sacrifice bunt by freshman Emily Kelly pushed Duggan to second, and she came around to score on the Jess Gorman single to right, for the early 1-0 lead.

Somerset answered in the top of the third on a double by Meaghan Kay, who scored Amy Entel, who had previously walked. The key play in the inning, however, was the final out in the third, when the relay throw by Makenna Lane to catcher Emily Kelly nailed Somerset's Marissa Shea at the plate, as she tried to score on the Kay double.

The play was a pivotal moment, as Norwood rallied in the fourth to go ahead 2-1, on a single by Jill Sheppard to score Melissa Chisholm who had doubled.

“Jill has had some big hits this year," said Savino, who also praised the middle of her order for their production tonight.

Norwood added an insurance run in the fifth, when Maloof singled to lead off the inning. She was moved over by a Sarah Eckhardt sacrifice to second, and Maloof stole third to put her in scoring position for the Makenna Lane sacrifice fly to center and the one-run difference.

“A win is a win,” said Savino. "Whether you win by one run or you win by ten, all you can do is get them ready and hope they do what they are suppose to do.”

It appears that Norwood will host another playoff game Monday night, at Balch Field, and the Mustangs fans, who showed up in droves Saturday night will have to DVR the start of the Bruins game once again.

But expect the Lady Mustangs to be ready, “Just need to come in with a good approach," said Maloof.