Chatham Falls to Roxbury in Extra Inning Pitchers' Duel

It was a true pitcher's duel at Chatham Middle School during Saturday's girls' softball Morris County Tournament game against Roxbury.

The two teams traded zeros for seven innings. But in the end, No. 3 Chatham was unable to hold the No 13 Roxbury Gaels scoreless, and fell 1-0, in eight innings Saturday at Haas Field. With the loss, Chatham is eliminated from the Morris County tournament.

"This was a take you back in time pitcher's duel," said Chatham coach Alexis Davies.

Chatham pitcher Amanda Fazio and Roxbury pitcher Ashtin Helmer looked strikingly similar on Saturday. Both pitchers throw left handed and both struck out 12 batters in the contest. 

Roxbury got off to a hot start under the 87 degree sun. After a Roxbury runner reached base on a single, the Gaels were able to move the runner to third base, but with two outs, Fazio took the inning into her hands and struck a Gael out at the plate to end the inning.

Roxbury's Helmer quickly answered in the bottom of the inning, striking out two and registering no hits.

Neither team was able to record a hit in the second inning, and in the third it looked as though Chatham was going to catch a break when Cara Delsandro lined a hard hit ball to right center. As she rounded first the Roxbury outfielder threw the ball to second base and Delsandro was tagged out. Helmer struck out the next two Chatham batters.

After trading 1-2-3 half innings in the fourth, Fazio struck out the side in the fifth. At the plate, the only action Chatham produced was a walk.

"Amanda pitched a great game," noted Coach Davies.

Roxbury entered the sixth inning with the top of its batting order up and with high hopes of penetrating the pitching wall Fazio had created, but Fazio contained Roxbury's offense to routine grounders and infield pop-ups for another 1-2-3 inning.

Chatham started the sixth when Catrina Yohay hit a solid base hit up the middle, but the Cougars could not follow the hit with any offense. Helmer struck out two in the inning.

The last inning of regular play started tied at 0-0.

"Give all the credit to their [Roxbury's] pitcher—she pitched a great game," said Davies.

In the bottom of the seventh, Chatham had a spark of hope when Kelly Winans hit a long ball to right field. But it was not long enough, and Roxbury got its first out of the inning. The Gaels quickly followed with two more outs.

Roxbury started the eighth inning with Amanda Figurelli drawing a walk. Linda Stierli followed with a sacrifice bunt to put Figurelli in scoring position, and Lindsey Williams, Roxbury's leadoff hitter, quickly followed with a long double to center, scoring Figurelli.

Fazio struck out two Roxbury batters to get Chatham out of the inning, but Chatham trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth.

Cara Delsandro reached first base on an error, bringing the large Chatham crowd to its feet. In an aggressive move Delsandro jumped off first base to steal second, but Roxbury catcher Johanna Lutz gunned her down and put her team one out closer to advancing in the tournament. Chatham ended the game with a fly out to right field.

"We knew that we needed to put solid touches on Amanda's pitches, because she has so much heat on the ball. She's very talented. This is a very talented Chatham team," noted Roxbury head coach Diane Naugle.The Cougars will face Hanover Park in regular season play at 4 p.m. on Monday in an away game.