With Dramatic Walk-Off Win, Chatham Softball Advances to Morris County Tournament Quarterfinals

It was a dramatic, 3-2 come-from-behind Morris County Tournament victory for the Chatham softball team against Montville in the bottom of the seventh inning on Tuesday at Lum Avenue Field in Chatham.

When the No. 3 seeded Chatham Cougars prepared to play the No. 14 seed Montville Mustangs in the tournament, they did not expect to win easily.

"Don't let their seed fool you. Montville always has a very reputable program," said Chatham Head Coach Alexis Davies.

Montville proved just that.

After the teams exchanged a pair of hitless and scoreless innings, Kelly Winans started the third inning off with a hard-hit single. McCall Moore was called in to pinch run for Winans, and with two outs and the bases loaded, Montville pitcher Taylor Strickland threw a wild pitch, sending Moore dashing for home.

Unfortunately, Moore was tagged out at the plate and the Cougars headed into the fourth inning with the score still tied at zero.

The Mustangs' fourth inning looked as though it would be a repeat of its scoreless previous innings when their leadoff batter grounded out. But two runners quickly reached on a base hit grounder and a walk, and with runners on second and third and two outs, the Montville hitter lined a base hit to center field and scored the two runners easily.

Chatham would trail 2-0 until the bottom of the fifth inning.

In that inning, with one out, Winans hit a long hard ball into the outfield. The ball, which was ruled playable, rolled into the back of a nearby lacrosse net. While the goal didn't count, the home run did, and Chatham trailed 2-1 entering the sixth.

After leaving runners in scoring position for both the sixth and seventh innings, Montville entered the last half inning of play with hopes of advancing to the next round of the county tournament.

Chatham had other plans.

In a bizarre twist, Cara Delsandro led the inning off by lining a foul ball into the crowd of Chatham fans. Unfortunately, one of the Chatham faithful took the line drive in the head and was taken to the hospital.

Delsandro was shaken by the injured fan; it was up to Coach Davies to calm her nerves.

"I just told her [Delsandro] that she's [the fan] going to be okay and to focus on what you need to do," Davies commented.

After the words of encouragement, Delsandro lined a single to left center.

"It was a pretty tough mental thing to do," said Coach Davies. "That hit was huge for us."

Next, Montville pitcher Taylor Strickland threw a pitch in the dirt. The Mustangs' catcher tried to pick Delsandro off at first but overthrew the first baseman and Delsandro advanced to second, where she represented the tying run.

Soon afterward, Jenna Ioffredo hit a double to left center to score Delsandro and tie the game at two.

Feeling a sense of urgency, Strickland was able to strike out the next two Chatham batters. With two outs and Ioffredo at second, Kelsey Davies came to the plate.

Davies hit the ball hard off of Strickland and fielded by Montville's second baseman as Ioffredo headed around the bases. With Ioffredo nearly home, Davies beat out the Montville throw at first and ended the game with her RBI single.

"She [Ioffredo] had a great lead," Coach Davies said. "She knew she was going [home]."

Sending Ioffredo home with two outs may have been a risky move for the head coach, but she was confident in her team.

"We got a lot of momentum by tying the game," Coach Davies said. "Even if we didn't score, we would be in the top of our order in extra innings. I felt very confident."

Chatham will face No. 11 Roxbury at Chatham's Haas Field on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the tournament quarterfinals.