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SUDBURY — The magical season continues for the Woburn High softball team.
Coming off their walk-off victory in their first game of the tournament, the 11th seeded Tanners kept it going, beating No. 6 Lincoln-Sudbury, 3-2, in thrilling fashion in the MIAA Division 1 Round of 16 on Wednesday afternoon.
Woburn (19-3) will now move on to the Elite 8 to take on Taunton, the No. 3 seed, Friday night under the lights at 7 p.m in Taunton.
“To come in here against a team that was 20-1 and stay in it, it was pretty impressive to see,” said Woburn coach Courtney Sigsbury. “They stepped up big and it was incredible to watch. We move on to Taunton, which will not be easy, but they deserve to be in a big game like that. They truly have worked so hard and now we are one of the eight teams left in Division 1, which is awesome.”
Yesterday, the Tanners were fantastic in every aspect of the game starting with pitcher Morgan Barmash who was outstanding from the start.
The Tanners played a little small ball to get things going in the fifth and were able to use timely hitting and great team defense to get the job done.
The game was scoreless through the first four innings until Woburn broke through for a run in the fifth. It was 1-0 heading into the seventh when Barmash delivered a key hit to give the Tanners a key insurance run. Lincoln-Sudbury did not go quietly as it scored two in the bottom half and left the tying run on second to end the game.
“Morgan (Barmash) was just phenomenal once again,” said Sigsbury. “We did all the little things right.”
Both pitchers were cruising early as they each started off with strong first innings.
After Lincoln-Sudbury pitcher Kelsey Blanchette retired Woburn in order in the top of the second, they came up to bat in the bottom half where Sarah Danielson led off with a single and stole second.
Barmash got the next two batters before walking Hope Huntrowski to put two on. She got Grace Jorjorian to strike out to end the threat.
Both Blanchette and Barmash had 1-2-3 third innings and the first real threat for either side came in the bottom of the fourth where the Warriors started the inning with second and third and no outs after a single, a walk and a double steal.
Barmash kept her composure and struck out the next two batters looking before getting a groundout to keep Lincoln-Sudbury off the board.
That was a pivotal moment in the game.
“We took a timeout and I told Morgan (Barmash) to just take a deep breath,” said Sigsbury. “She struck out the next two and really took her time. It’s hard in those situations but I told her to own the moment and she did. Momentum can change really fast and she did a great job there. Morgan is the heart and soul of this team and she deserves everything she gets.”
The first run of the game came in the top of the fifth when Hannah Niemszyk led off the inning with a double to left that was inches away from being a home run.
With one out, Brianna D’Arrigo reached on an error putting two runners on and then Ella Spinazola hit a bunt single to load the bases. Riley Trask then came up and laid down the perfect bunt, scoring Niemszyk to put Woburn on the board.
“Hannah’s (Niemszyk) hit in the fifth really opened it up because their pitcher was cruising for a while,” said Sigsbury. “The kids took a deep breath and knew they could just make something happen if we put the ball in play. We played a little small ball and this group just works. I have never been around a more hard-working group. It is a complete team atmosphere and I am so proud.”
Barmash had another couple of big strikeouts in the bottom of the sixth setting up a big seventh inning with the Tanners clinging to a 1-0 lead.
Niemszyk started the inning off once again with a single and Megan Loughlin then walked putting two on with no outs.
Later in the inning with the bases now loaded after a Trask bunt single, Avery Simpson walked to force in a run to make it 2-0. Then Barmash delivered an RBI single to give Woburn a bit of cushion.
Those runs proved to be huge as the Warriors didn’t go quietly in the bottom of the seventh.
The first two batters reached on a walk and a single, but Barmash got the next two outs on two force plays. She was nearly out of it until Kelsey Blanchette hit a two-run double to cut the lead to 3-2.
With the tying run on second, Barmash got the last batter to ground out to end the threat and give Woburn the big win securing a spot in the Elite 8.
