Pomperaug High School junior pitcher Ashley Antonazzo takes a line drive back to the pitcher’s circle and makes the play against Masuk on Monday. The Lady Panthers lost to Masuk Monday but came back to win Tuesday and capture the SWC Colonial Division crown. (Ken Morse photo)
#MIDDLEBURY #REGION15
By Ken Morse — Special to the Middlebury Bee-Intelligencer
The Pomperaug High School softball team captured the South West Conference (SWC) Colonial Division Tuesday, finishing up the regular season with a 10-1 win over Immaculate. The 16-4 Panthers are 12-1 in the conference and will be the number one seed in the SWC tournament.
Pomperaug settled the outcome against the Mustangs by plating five runs in the third inning and five more in the sixth. Ashley Antonazzo surrendered just four hits and struck out six in a complete game effort.
Laurel Williams had three hits, including a home run that drove in three runs. She also scored twice to lead the Panthers at the plate. Annie Yacavone slugged a triple to drive in a run and scored two runs while Emily Ostar and Caley Ruggiero got two hits and two RBIs to account for the offense.
The SWC is wide open as no team has dominated, and three different teams have claimed the title in the last three years. Pomperaug finished as the SWC runner-up in 2011 and 1997.
The Lady Panthers go into the post season with a hot hand, led by Antonazzo, who is 16-4 in the pitcher’s circle with a tidy 1.71 ERA and 150 strikeouts. Williams leads the team with 29 hits and 23 runs scored and owns a .403 average after knocking in 17 runs.
Yacavone leads the team with a .435 average on 27 hits, 19 runs and 17 RBIs. Sam Wisnefsky is another productive hitter, sporting a .343 average on 23 hits, 15 runs and 16 RBIs.
The Lady Panthers are never at a loss for run production with Ruggiero hitting at a .314 clip and scoring 21 runs on 22 hits. Freshman catcher Kaitlin Flood is the team’s most timely hitter, leading the club with 18 RBIs.
Standing in the way of a perfect season was Newtown, a team that defeated Pomperaug 7-1 two weeks ago only to have the Panthers get revenge in a 7-3 rematch.
The Lady Panthers’ biggest nemesis is Masuk as Pomperaug suffered a tough 12-9 defeat against them in the season opener. On Monday, the rematch took place in Southbury, and again Masuk came out on top in a 14-9 slugfest.
“It was a horrible ball game on our part,” Pomperaug head coach Paul Masotto said following the loss. “Offensively, we did some good things but defensively it just wasn’t there.”
Coach Masotto was referring to the team’s nine errors that extended Masuk at bats, allowing the visitors to put runs across the plate in six of the seven innings. What was even more maddening was Masuk scored three runs in the fourth and sixth innings while the Panthers countered with just two runs in each of those innings. The final straw came in the last inning when Masuk put up four runs and Pomperaug answered with only three runs.
“We put our bat on the ball and put it in play but you can’t give up more than you score and expect to win,” said Masotto. “Everyone has a bad game, and we are a very good team that just played a bad game. I’m looking forward to playing Masuk again. I think by the time the tournament starts you will see a very determined Pomperaug team.”
Pomperaug trailed Masuk 3-0 in the bottom of the third, when Ruggiero reached on a single and scored on a solid hit to center field by Flood. Masuk came right back to score three in the fourth as Pomperaug countered with Ostar and Williams scoring on a Ruggiero two-run double.
The Panthers trailed 7-4 when Masuk erupted for three runs in the top of the sixth aided by two errors and a missed out at the plate. Pomperaug responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame on RBI hits from Yacavone and Wisnefsky, but the Panthers still trailed 10-6.
Masuk scored four in the top of the seventh, and Pomperaug came back with Ostar, Brooke Anderson and Gillian Stiber scoring and Yacavone getting a two-run hit, but it was too little too late.
The SWC tournament begins on Saturday with teams still to be determined
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