Greater Wyoming Area celebrates its win over Maine in the Little League Junior Softball East Region tournament on Friday at Wilkes University.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
Maine catcher Addison Cirard was late with the tag as Greater Wyoming Area’s Ashlee Gustitus slides into home in the third inning on Friday.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
Maine shortstop Claire Moore drops the ball as Greater Wyoming Area’s Janaee Fattorusso is safe at second in the third inning on Friday.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
Londyn Sobeck, the GWA starting pitcher against Bristol Little League on Thursday.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
GWA’s Ashlee Gustitus rounds second on her way to third as Bristol’s center fielder throws the ball in the fourth inning on Thursday.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
GWA’s Gianna Fattorusso tags out Bristol’s Layla Annino before she made it to second in the fifth inning on Thursday.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
EDWARDSVILLE — Greater Wyoming Area used a huge inning to produce a huge victory Friday afternoon.
GWA scored seven times in the third inning and then held off several comeback bids by Maine champion Ellsworth for a 10-5 win in a Little League Junior Softball East Region elimination game at Wilkes University.
GWA received an automatic spot in the East Region because it is from the host area. It consists of girls who played on GWA’s District 31 Major Softball team and Wyoming Area’s junior high squad.
Host teams usually don’t fare well in tournaments consisting of state champions, so the win was quite an accomplishment.
“It’s huge,” GWA manager Walt Stevens said. “We played (Thursday) and we got beat, but it was only 9-5. We scored five runs and held a state champ to nine runs.
“Today we won by scoring 10 runs and that’s amazing. This is huge for our girls. They should be proud to play in this tournament with state champs and show off the skills they have.”
GWA was scheduled to be back on the field again Saturday in another elimination game against the New York state champion.
GWA sent all 11 players to the plate in the third as it scored seven times. Gianna Fattorusso, Harlee Pavlico and Lillian Miscavage each had an RBI single. Ashlee Gustitus added her first RBI double of the game. A few Maine errors helped out as well.
Maine pecked at the 7-0 deficit with two runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings. GWA, though, got a run in each of those innings.
Gianna Fattorusso hit an RBI triple in the fourth, scoring Janaee Fattorusso, who had singled. Gustitus’ second RBI double scored Brooke Turner, who had singled, in the fifth.
GWA starter Londyn Sobeck also prevented Maine from making a big dent into her team’s lead. She finished with 10 strikeouts and kept Maine hitless until the fourth inning.
“Londyn is a great leader on the field,” Stevens said. “She has a great defense to back her up.”
GWA right fielder Janaee Fattorusso had the defensive gem, sliding to her knees to snag a flyball in the first inning. Catcher Josclyn Fronczek threw out a runner trying to steal third in the seventh.
Bristol (Conn.) 9, Greater Wyoming Area 5
EDWARDSVILLE — It felt like a switch flipped for Greater Wyoming Area in the back half of its opening round game in the Junior League Softball East Region tournament, the host team looking much stronger at the end than at the beginning.
Unfortunately for GWA, the first half of the game made all the difference.
Bristol (Conn.) came out slugging and took advantage of some fielding miscues to run up a six-run lead early in the game and held on for a 9-5 victory over the host team at Wilkes University on Thursday.
After GWA managed to cut the lead in half heading to the bottom of the fifth, a three-run inning from Bristol neutralized the rally and sent GWA into the elimination bracket.
“You get on base, then the next girl gets on base and all of a sudden, the energy changes,” GWA manager Walt Stevens said.
GWA’s lineup had just a pair of singles and a walk to its credit through three innings against Bristol starting pitcher Kylie Nass, who struck out six hitters to that point.
Bristol took a 3-0 lead in the first, added two more in the second and another run in the third. It put the ball in play consistently and benefited from shaky defense and good baserunning to move runners around.
It was a big hole, but GWA began to fight back. Gianna Fattorusso led off the fourth inning with a single and later scored. Ashlee Gustitus tripled and came around to score on a base hit from Londyn Sobeck to make it 6-2.
After a scoreless frame from Sobeck kept the score where it was, GWA tacked on another run in the fifth on a groundout from Janaee Fattorusso.
Sobeck got the first two outs in Bristol’s turn to bat in the fifth, but the Connecticut state champs managed to put together a rally-killing stretch from the top of their order.
GWA added two more runs in the sixth but couldn’t close the gap any further. Bristol reliever Zoey Comandini settled in to strand the bases loaded in the sixth, and worked around a base hit in the seventh to close out the game.
