Bulldog Softball Winning Streak Comes to an End

Coming into the state tournament, Westfield softball was 10-1 without star player Frankie Martinez, who broke her arm in a game against Robinson with five games left to play in the season. Without Northern Region Player of the Year Jessica McNamara as well, the Bulldogs were forced to play an extra inning Tuesday which resulted in a 4-3 loss to Grassfield in the VHSL AAA State Quarterfinals.

McNamara fractured her wrist in practice Monday after being hit by a line drive.

"I looked it up and it's something like 50 runs, 61 RBI and nine home runs," said Coach Dean Ferington when talking about the impact that Martinez and McNamara has had on the team. "You can't replace it, especially at this point in the season."

Keona Gaines had a solid day on the mound, freezing Grassfield at the plate on multiple occasions with her outside curve ball, but in the top of the third inning the Grizzlies' bats found a bit of spark. Lead-off hitter Jazmine Foreman smashed a line drive into left-center field to begin the four-hit, two-run inning and two batters later, sophomore Danielle Matkins legged out a bunt to place runners at first and third.

Robyn Mitchell then blasted a fly ball to the left-center gap that bounced over the fence for a ground rule double to tie the score at one. Three batters later, junior Hannah Burmeister hit a fly-ball to center field that barely missed the glove of Kayleen Bell and drove home the go-ahead score.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, a line drive to left-center field by Cailtin Rudy drove Westfield senior Alex Tenny across home plate and tied the score at two.

At the top of the eighth, Coach Ferington replaced Gaines with pitcher Jenn Goodman. Burmeister led with a ground out to second base, then Goodman walked Kaitlin Springer to place the go-ahead run on first. Grassfield freshman Brittney Walters then stepped to the plate and on the 1-1 pitch hit a hard grounder that bounced off the third base bag and kicked into the far left corner of the fence. Springer crossed home plate, and two batters later, Kaitlyn Breneman hit a short pop to Jackie Martinez, playing short stop, which deflected off her glove and allowed Walters to score.

"I thought that Jackie did fine at short stop and turned a nice double play [earlier in the game]," said Ferington. "For not getting any reps there, she did fine."

Jackie filled in at short stop for McNamara and Bell played center field in place of Jackie.

"We were just a couple brain farts away from winning," added Ferington.

The Bulldogs managed to score one run in that final inning from a grounder to left-center field by Gaines, but then with runners on first and second, a chopper to short stop by Rudy projected directly towards base runner Courtney Huling who interfered with the play and was called for the second out. Goodman then made a rare appearance at the plate and on the 2-2 pitch grounded back to pitcher Lacey McDougall to record the final out and give the Grizzlies their first ever state tournament victory.

"When you get to this level, every team is good," said Grassfield Coach Leroy Bohn. "Anybody can beat anybody. These girls have worked hard and we're learning how to win the big games. I'm very proud of each and every one of them."

Carrie Otroba hit 2-for-3 with a reached-on-error. Tenney hit 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Grassfield High School first opened its doors in 2007. This is the first time that the Grizzlies have made it to the VHSL state softball tournament. They have four seniors playing ball in college next year:

Jazmine Foreman and Robyn Mitchell - Norfolk State, Lacey McDougall - Concord University, Kaitlyn Breneman - University of Delaware.