By Josh Perry || HockomockSports.com Managing Editor
WORCESTER, Mass. – It’s always difficult to beat a team three times in a season. That was the challenge facing Taunton (24-1) in Saturday evening’s Div. 1 state title game at Worcester State’s Rockwood Field. If the Tigers were going to extend their championship streak, they were going to have to find a way past league rival Attleboro (18-7).
With some of the state’s most feared hitters in both lineups, the final promised plenty of fireworks and the teams delivered what turned out to be a historic display of power.
Taunton came from behind twice, scored four runs in an inning twice, and outlasted Attleboro 11-8 to win the program’s sixth consecutive state title.
It was a game for the record books. The 19 combined runs is the most scored in a state title game. Taunton senior Victoria Corrao and junior Bella Bourque both tied the state title game record with three runs scored. The Tigers are now one title away from Bishop Fenwick’s record seven in a row (from 1990-1996) and have lost only one game in the past three seasons.
“We knew coming into this game that it was going to be a hard one,” said senior Gracie Oliveira, who has been part of five titles in her career. “We needed to start hitting, we needed to have some good defense, and that’s exactly what we did. It just feels amazing. I have like a tingling feeling. It’s going to be a memorable one for sure.”
“It feels amazing to get a win against a good team and especially such a great game to go out with a bang.”
Taunton coach Michelle Raposo said, “Just proud of them for staying team. Even early in the game, some uncharacteristic little flubs but they threw it in the dirt, they responded with four runs in the bottom of the first, and I just knew the fire was going to be there. Just keep battling and that’s their number one thing.”
Attleboro got off to the perfect start. Senior Jenna Callahan led off with a line drive single to center and freshman catcher Rayna Bennett walked. Junior Lola Ronayne was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs.
Junior Savannah Boedecker hit a grounder to the left side. Taunton tried to get the runner at third but couldn’t hold on, so everyone was safe. On the next play, Sophie Borges hit a grounder to short. Bourque tried to come home with it but the throw was not in time and Bennett slid in to make it 2-0.
Sophomore Kaylee Magnan kept things going with an RBI groundouit and classmate Avery Graziosi delivered the big hit with a double off the tip of left fielder Jay Gagnon’s glove, bringing in a pair.
Momentum didn’t last long. Taunton’s lineup answered immediately.
Corrao got things started with a triple to the gap in right center. A throwing error on a bunt by senior Mia Torres got Taunton on the board. Bourque lined a single to right that scored Torres and junior Aniyah Bailey drew a walk. Another bunt led to another error and junior Ashlyn Hebert drove in Taunton’s fourth run with a fielder’s choice.
When junior Grace Simmons flew out to center to end the first inning, the teams had combined to send 18 batters to the plate and score nine runs.
“We just keep each other up 24/7,” Oliveira said about the Tigers answering after a tough top of the first. “We never let anyone get down. After a hard at-bat, we’re always in each other’s faces like, ‘Hey, next at-bat, you’re good. Let’s get it back in the field.’ So we’re always having each other’s back, bringing that energy.”
Taunton took its first lead in the second. Corrao started it with a walk. With one out, Bourque, the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year, drilled a line drive over the fence and off a flagpole in straightaway center to put the Tigers up 6-5.
After a breather in the third, the scoring continued in the fourth. Senior Nina Sullivan, the No. 9 hitter, punched a single into center to lead things off for the Bombardiers. After a pair of hard hit line drive outs, and facing an 0-2 count, Ronayne smashed a two-run homer well beyond the fence in dead center to put Attleboro back up by a run.
“If you have not seen them before, and you get into a fight like this with them, I can see why teams would fall apart,” Attleboro coach Mark Homer said about his team’s response to the Taunton comeback. “This is the third time that we have hit them. We knew we had the ability to do it, so none of that stuff bothered us. We knew it was going to be a fight.”
Corrao wasted no time getting that back as she drilled a leadoff homer over the fence and off a porta potty in right. With two outs, Bailey kept the inning alive on a single to center. Oliveira followed with a base hit and Hebert hit a hard grounder that slipped through into center.
With two runners in scoring position, Gagnon lined a double down the line in left, driving in a pair. Callahan cut off the throw to the plate from Borges and was able to get Gagnon trying to stretch it into a triple, ending the inning but only after Tigers scored four runs and led 10-7.
Attleboro got one back in the fifth. Borges (2-for-4) led off with a single and stole second. Magnan then reached on an error, which allowed Borges to come home. Bailey made a nice play up against the fence on a pop up behind the plate and Bourque held onto a pop up to end the inning.
Taunton got the run back in the sixth. Bourque reached on an error, racing all the way to third on the play, and then Oliveira reached on a miscue as well. Graziosi snared a line drive and made a perfect throw across the diamond to double up the runner at first and Gagnon’s sharp liner was knocked down in the circle by Ronayne (who took over in the fifth) and she made the play for the last out.
Borges singled to start the seventh, giving Attleboro some hope, but eighth grader Ella Parece, who threw 6-2/3 innings after taking over from Simmons in the first, got her fifth strikeout of the night, a pop up to Bailey at the plate, and a ground ball to finish it.
“This one was definitely special,” Bourque said about her fourth straight title. “Ella Parece is amazing. I have no words. She was composed, she didn’t let anything rattle her, she was amazing on the mound. She held us together.”
Attleboro was making its first state title game appearance. Ten years ago, the Bombardiers won only two games and now they are among the state’s elite. While Saturday’s result was disappointing, Homer was thrilled at the progress of the program.
“I think leadership was the most important thing this year,” he said. “When you get into tight, tight games like this, the younger players, the more inexperienced players, they look to the leadership of the team, and we had that this year.”
“Like I told the girls, this group has cut a path for the next group coming in. We have been here now––we are going to come back again. This is not the end of the story.”
When Bourque flipped to Corrao at second for the final out of the game, the Tigers mobbed each other on the mound while the coaches shared a moment just in front of the dugout. Over the six years of this softball dynasty, this was in many ways the toughest title to win.
“They were a team all year long,” Raposo said. “They relied on each other all season. They knew they were going to pass the bat offensively and just pick each other up.
Asked about what makes the Tigers come back year after year without being satisfied with their past success, Raposo (who won back-to-back titles as a player at Taunton) replied, “They just want to perfect everything and they want to be better and they want to be there for their teammates. They have to believe in that stuff and the girls that I’ve had the pleasure of coaching over these four years have everything that it takes to create that culture.”
