North Attleboro Falls To B-R Trojans in D1 South Finals

TAUNTON, Mass. – Bridgewater-Raynham scored a run without getting a hit in the first inning and turned the only hit of the game into their second run in the third inning and that was all the Trojans needed, taking down North Attleboro 2-0 in the D1 South Sectional Finals.

B-R pitcher Sarah Dawson tossed a no-hitter and allowed just one walk in seven innings of work to lead the Trojans to the D1 South Sectional Title.

It was a frustrating first inning for North Attleboro ace and Gatorade Player of the Year Meg Colleran. Colleran uncharacteristically walked the first two batters while trying to figure out the umpires strike zone. A sacrifice bunt from Emily Kurkul moved lead off hitter Madi Shaw to third and Stacey Korotsky to second. 

With Stephanie Cavallaro at the plate squaring up the bunt, Colleran hit her on the hand with the pitch, but instead of a strike, it was deemed a batter hit by pitch and the bases were loaded for the Trojans with one out. Colleran got Jenny Heller to strike out looking to get the second out but Kelsey Leuenberger drew a walk with the bases loaded and Shaw came in to score to make it 1-0. Colleran escaped the bases loaded jam.

“That’s a good hitting team and she’s not going to come right down the middle,” North Attleboro head coach Bill Wallace said. “I’m not making any excuses but it was an umpire she hasn’t seen and first innings are always tough when you’re trying to figure out a strike zone.”

Dawson breezed through the second inning with two strikeouts and Colleran worked around a lead-off hit batter to keep the score at 1-0. 

North Attleboro got their lone base runner of the game in the top of the third inning when senior Jill Costello worked her way to a lead off walk. Costello was advanced all the way to third with two outs, but Dawson induced a ground out to third to strand the runner.

In the bottom of the third, Kurkul picked up what turned out to be the first – and only – hit of the game. A ground ball up the middle of the infield allowed Kurkul to reach and pinch runner Taylor Poulin came in and took second after a passed ball. A sac bunt from Cavallaro moved Poulin to third with one out. At the next at-bat, Heller hit a ground ball back to Colleran, who made a nice play to grab the ball and look off Poulin at third to keep her there, but as she turned to throw to first to get Heller out, the ball slipped out of her hand and bounced wide of first and Poulin came home to score.

That would be the lone offense of the game for either team as Colleran went on to retire the final 10 batters of the game, including back-to-back strikeouts in the bottom of the sixth. But the Rocketeers offense couldn’t muster anything up, despite starting to make continuous contact.

North Attleboro went down in order in the final three innings, but all nine came from defensive putouts as the Rocketeers put the ball in play each time. 

“It is what is is, but [B-R] has a stacked line up and we haven’t seen a whole lot of lefties and I think they had five lefties in their lineup,” Wallace said. “The closest thing we’ve seen to that is one or two, I think Oliver Ames might be the closest thing we’ve seen to that. So we had to see put some funky defense in there and I thought defensively we did OK, we just needed to do a better job at the plate.”

The Rocketeers finish as D1 South Sectional Finalists, which is the furtherest the program has ever reached. North finishes with an impressive 18-4 record despite graduating seven starters from last season.

“It’s been a heck of a season, it gave me two extra weeks with these seniors,” Wallace added. “If you look back at the preseason polls, nobody had North Attleboro in there so it’s been a great ride. The kids have been fantastic all the way through. This senior class really overachieved and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at RyanLanigan@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.