NORTON — After pausing play because of rain on Friday with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth inning, the No. 4 Norton High softball team and No. 12 Apponequet Regional wrapped up play on Saturday in a 5-2 final in favor of the Lancers in the Div. 3 quarterfinals.
Resuming play on Saturday morning in a jam, Norton’s Liana Danubio got a strikeout to kick off the game again, but allowed an RBI single to make it 5-2.
Apponequet, playing aggressively, was cut down trying to score two runs on the play with a throw home that gunned down a potential run for the second out. With runners on the corners, Danubio punched out another batter to end the threat. From there, Apponequet had only one baserunner the rest of the way.
An inning that could have gone wrong in several ways for Norton instead proved to be a best-case scenario for the Lancers, giving them a spark to keep Apponequet down in the final two innings.
“They were fired up. Worst case, we had talked about coming out of there even if it was 5-4, but best case was 5-2,” Norton head coach Wade Lizotte said. “We felt like we dodged that bullet, bases loaded, no outs, so many things could go wrong. Pitching and defense buckling down, doing their jobs and getting out of there was the lift we needed to finish this game.”
Lizotte said he didn’t feel the game was won in that moment, citing last year’s Round-of-16 loss to St. Mary’s where Norton had the lead and lost it as part of why he wasn’t going to celebrate until the game went final.
“There’s no quit; you know that other dugout is not going to stop coming at you,” Lizotte said. “You never have that feeling until the third out is secured. It’s playoff time; I don’t take anything for granted and I’ve seen too many crazy things. We knew they were scrappy and there was no quit in them.”
Norton now moves to the Final 4 to play No. 16 Bishop Stang, which upset top-ranked St. Mary’s in a 2-0 pitchers’ duel over the weekend, at UMass Dartmouth on Wednesday with first pitch at 5 p.m. The Final 4 appearance is the first since 2019 for Norton.
“It’s one of those Catholic schools that is very well-tested. Their competition, they see great competition all year,” Lizotte said. “We’re going to have to find a way for the offense to score runs, but my offense, I’m very comfortable with them. I got confidence in them.”
Burlington 2, North Attleboro 1
BURLINGTON — The No. 5 Rocketeers bowed out of the Division 2 postseason on Sunday, losing to No. 4 Burlington.
A pitchers’ duel early, Kelly Colleran cored the first run of the game on a MaryEllen Charette RBI single in the top of the fourth to put the Rocketeers on the board. The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Burlington pushed two runs across on a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch.
The Rocketeers threatened in the seventh with the tying and go-ahead runs on base, but were unable to make any magic happen.
North’s season comes to an end with a record of 17-6.