GEORGETOWN — During the two days between its walk-off win in the Round of 16, and Saturday’s Division 5 Quarterfinal game, the Georgetown softball team drilled one thing in particular. And it sounds so simple, but without doing it, you’d be hard-pressed to win anything in the sport.
Hit. The. Ball.
“Just put the ball in play,” said Georgetown coach Jay Santomassino. “That’s what we kept stressing to them, and what we practiced over the last couple days. It was all hitting, hitting, hitting.
“And it doesn’t have to be hit hard, but just put it in play.”
Well, his athletes listened.
And as a result, the Royals have now gone where very few who have worn the jerseys before them have ever reached. As crazy as it may have sounded at the beginning of the season — with seven sophomores and two freshmen in the starting lineup — the Royals are now one of only four teams remaining in all of Division 5.
Saturday morning, No. 4 Georgetown held on and punched its ticket to the state Final Four, beating No. 5 Franklin County Tech, 4-2. Perhaps it was the 2.5-hour drive for an 11 a.m. first pitch, but the visiting Eagles committed two errors that led to a four-run bottom of the first inning, which turned out to be all of the support Royals’ starter Maddie Grant would need.
“Oh yeah, I thought we’d be here,” said the sophomore Grant, when asked if she thought the Royals would still be playing this deep into the tournament at the start of the year.
“I think that we’ve worked really hard for this. All of the other playoff games so far have been really intense, but today’s was just a little bit more. I was trying to take it one pitch at a time, I wasn’t trying to think too far ahead.
Again, just put the ball in play.
Franklin County came into the game with only two losses on the season, thanks in large part to star junior pitcher Hannah Gilbert averaging double-digit strikeouts per contest. Every baserunner Georgetown earned was going to be crucial, and luckily for the Royals (14-6), they took advantage when they got them.
And all in the first inning.
Ava Fair blooped a one-out single, and advanced to second after Grant walked. Gillien Figueroa then blasted an RBI-single to left, and after that, the only other Georgetown hit on the day was a double from Ellie Barbarick in the top of the second. But to finish up the first inning, both Jenna Johnson and Mackenzie Riley put the ball in play, and two straight Franklin Tech errors led to three unearned runs scoring, and it being a 4-0 game in a blink.
That, folks, was the difference.
Barbarick’s double in the second was Georgetown’s final baserunner, as Gilbert retired the last 14 batters she faced. But on the other side, Grant (7 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 8 Ks) was similarly dominant in the single — and most importantly, the Royals didn’t make an errors.
“I’m super proud of them,” said Santomassino. “We may be ahead of schedule in terms of the youth of our team, but the girls have worked so hard and have put a lot into it. They’re a fearless bunch, and they deserve the success they are having.
“And Maddie pitched terrific today.”
Franklin Tech (20-3) scored both of its runs in the third inning.
After a walk and a single, Jenna Petrowicz lined an RBI-single to left field, and Kaitlin Trudeau followed with a sacrifice fly. But with a runner at third and the tying run at the plate, Grant got a strikeout and a flyout to escape the jam. The Eagles got two runners on again in both the fourth and fifth innings, but each time, Grant was able to make the clutch pitches to keep them off the scoreboard.
She then struck out the side in the sixth, and retired the Eagles 1-2-3 in the seventh to send the Royals off to the Final Four.
“We just need to keep our energy up,” said Grant. “We had really good energy in the first inning today, but it sort of dwindled over the rest of the game. But thankfully we were able to get it back up and close out the rest of the game.”
Georgetown will now play No. 8 Tahanto in the semifinals at a date and time not yet announced.
And in a great story, both the Georgetown baseball and softball teams are still vying for their respective Division 5 State Championships.
“For so long, Georgetown has been known as a baseball town,” said Santomassino. “And rightfully so! Phil (Desilets) has done an unbelievable job building that program into what it is. But I want these girls to know that softball is just as important.”
Georgetown 4, Franklin County Tech 2
Division 5 Quarterfinals
Franklin County (2): Trudeau ss 3-0-1, Ross 2b 2-0-0, Gilbert p 2-0-0, Gamache c 2-0-0, Guerin rf 2-0-0, Goodell 3b 3-0-0, Disciollio lf 2-1-0, Inman dp 2-1-1, Borgh ph 1-0-0, Petrowicz cf 3-0-1, O’Leary 1b 0-0-0. Totals 22-2-3
Georgetown (4): Barbarick c 3-0-1, Fair 1b 3-1-1, Grant p 2-1-0, Figueroa 3b 3-1-1, Johnson cf 3-1-0, Riley rf 3-0-0, Mariani ss 2-0-0, Cirone lf 2-0-0, Ruggerio dp 2-0-0, Robinson 2b 0-0-0. Totals 23-4-3
RBI: G — Figueroa; FCT — Petrowicz, Trudeau
WP: Grant; LP: Gilbert
Franklin County (20-3): 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 – 2
Georgetown (14-6): 4 0 0 0 0 0 x — 4