Franklin Tech Edges McCann Tech in Back-And-Forth Final
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- Franklin Tech's Samantha Duncan dropped a single into left field to drive in two runs in the top of the seventh, and the Eagles went on to a 12-10 win over McCann Tech in the State Vocational Tournament Small School Division title game on Tuesday.
McCann Tech rallied from an 8-2 deficit to take a 10-2 lead in the fourth, but the Eagles scored three times in seventh to take the lead and ended the game with a double play to stop a comeback bid by the Hornets in the bottom of the frame.
Addison Pause went 3-for-4, and Gabby Driscoll was 2-for-4 with a two-run double to lead McCann Tech, which fell behind, 7-1 when Franklin Tech's Sofia Melnik hit a three-run, third-inning home run but kept fighting back.
"They're very solid," Franklin Tech coach Joe Gamache said. "We knew that they could hit for sure, and they earned every one of their runs.
"The girls showed some resiliency today. They all battled together. We went pretty deep into our bench today, and everybody contributed in some fashion."
Franklin Tech starting pitcher Brayleigh Burgh, the MVP of the Eagles' Western Massachusetts Class C Championship Game win over the weekend, went the distance in the circle, striking out five and walking just one.
She got a lot of offensive support early as the visitors scored four in the first and three on Melnik's blast in the third.
After McCann Tech's Emma LeMire (3-for-4) drove in a run in the bottom of the third to get her team within five, Franklin Tech's Samantha Duncan led off the fourth with a triple and came around to score on an error to push the margin back to six.
The Hornets erased that deficit in the bottom of the frame.
Driscoll, Pause, Mackenzie Lemanski and Danielle King started the inning with four straight hits.
"I'm very proud of them for coming back," McCann Tech coach Aubrey Thurston said. "They could have hung their heads, but they decided to rally, and it was really fun to watch. It was a good game to watch back and forth."
After the Eagles recorded an out, an infield single from Avery Lane and a Franklin Tech error kept the rally going before LeMire, Ryleigh Rathbun and Driscoll and Pause again recorded hits to put the Hornets on top, 10-8.
Lane, who went to the circle after LeMire took a line drive shot off her leg to start the fifth, allowed one run in the sixth but stranded a runner on third base.
She then put the first two runners on to start the seventh but got a couple of ground ball outs to temporarily preserve the one-run lead. Emma Peterson's RBI single down the left-field line tied it and brought up Duncan, who gave the Eagles the lead for good.
The Hornets (16-3) and Eagles learn Wednesday who they will open play against in the Division 5 State Tournament when those brackets are released by the MIAA.
McCann Tech goes to the third and final post-season tournament with an extra shot of confidence after scoring eight runs against a team that handed the Hornets a 7-1 loss less than a week ago in the Western Mass semi-finals.
"We feel so much better [than after last week's loss]," Thurston said. "Expecially with our hitting. I mean, we were able to make a lot better contact today and find the gaps. And we didn't leave as many girls on base.
"I felt like that was the difference today -- making contact and moving girls around the bases."