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Sports

SoCo Outlasts Woodson in Extra Innings

Stallions win 5-3 to advance to Monday's Patriot District finals

Dramatic wins are something that South County head coach Gary Dillow is becoming accustomed to. In just two days, Dillow has seen two softball teams close to him squeak out post-season, extra inning victories.

From his home on Friday, Dillow watched his daughter Taylor’s Christopher Newport University softball team overcome a 6-run deficit to defeat East Connecticut State 8-7 in eight innings in the first round of the Division III softball championships.

If that wasn’t enough, Dillow’s own South County squad needed extra innings to defeat Woodson 5-3 Saturday evening for the chance to win their fourth straight Patriot District title.

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“We’ve played them close twice already this year so we knew that we could compete with them. We just got a few more clutch hits than they did. They’re a great team, but we moved on,” said Dillow.

Saturday’s game was South County’s second in as many days due to the type of inclement weather which plagued the team throughout the Spring. Their game against Annandale, originally scheduled to have been played last Wednesday, was finally played last night.

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With the win over Annandale, South County advanced to Saturday’s Patriot District semifinal game.

The Stallions fell behind early to Woodson and trailed 2-1 entering the third inning. Despite the fatigue from having played a game less than 12 hours before, South County bats heated up, resulting in a two- run third inning.

With a 3-2 lead, South County pitcher Rebecca Martin, who struck out 11 in the contest, prevented another Woodson run until the bottom of the sixth inning. Opposing pitcher Naomi Kennedy doubled to left field and drove in Shannon McCloud’s game tying run.

An already raucous crowd became electric in the seventh inning hoping for the game winning run. But after the end of seven, the score remained 3-3 and the game entered extra innings.

In the ninth inning, the Stallions found the offense needed to clinch the victory. Julia Kastner’s ninth inning double drove in Brittnee Haynes, with the go-ahead run as the South County dugout and fan section erupted in cheers.

With Kastner on second base, Whitney Burks singled and sent Kastner home.

“I knew that we didn’t need a home run to win. They [Woodson] were playing way back and all I needed to do was get the ball into the outfield. This is a big win for us,” said Julia Kastner after the game.

Kastner’s exploits gave the Stallions 5-3 lead, and pitcher Rebecca Martin sealed the deal, not allowing Woodson to score in their final at-bat. After a long, emotional day, the Stallions walked away with a 5-3 victory.

South County will try to win their fourth straight district title Monday evening at West Springfield High School.

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