The Gloucester softball team played a lot of innings in a 24-hour stretch on Tuesday and Wednesday.
One day after dropping a tight one in 10-innings against Masconomet, the Fishermen went into extra innings again on Wednesday at home against Marblehead. This time the Fishermen were able to come away with a win as Ava Paone’s grounder on the infield scored ghost runner Kaiya Mineo with the walk-off run in a 4-3 win.
“These close games come down to the little things and we did them in extra innings,” Gloucester head coach Bryan Aiello said. “We’re still not executing the way we need to in certain areas which is why we were in another tight one today. But we made productive at bats in extra innings and got great pitching to go with some very solid defense today. It was nice to come out with the win.”
Gloucester (2-2) found itself in a precarious spot in the top of the eighth inning as Marblehead put runners on second and third with nobody out after the ghost runner moved to third on a wild pitch and the leadoff batter walked before stealing second base. Gloucester pitcher Cam Carroll, who came in relief of Ashlee Aiello to start the eighth, pitched out of the jam by striking out the next two batters and getting a groundout to second to end the frame.
The Fishermen would go on to make the most of their chance in the bottom of the frame. With Mineo starting the inning off on second base as the ghost runner, Julia Carrancho bunted her over to third and Paone followed with the grounder to third base to end it.
“We just wanted to get the runner over there after we got out of the top of the inning without allowing a run,” Aiello said. “We got two good at bats to get the run in. Productive at bats that did just what we wanted them to do.”
It was a back-and-forth contest all afternoon with Gloucester taking a 1-0 lead in the third when Jenna Connelly (2 runs) came in to score on a wild pitch after reaching on an error. Marblehead would take the lead over in the top of the fourth with RBI groundouts from Lyla McGovern and Tessa Adriana to make it 2-1.
The Fishermen got the lead back in the fifth as Carrancho bunted home pinch runner Dylan Gaetano, who ran for Chloe deGaspe Beaubien after she singled. Paone followed with a sacrifice fly to left plating Connelly for a 3-2 Gloucester lead.
The Magicians (0-2) would tie up the score in the top of the seventh. Adriano led off the frame with a double and scored on a Calienes single.
Both starting pitchers were on their games on Wednesday as Marblehead’s Tessa Francis allowed only three hits and two earned runs in eight innings of work. Ashlee Aiello went seven for Gloucester a day after going 10 against Masco, allowing one earned run and striking out six.
“Ashlee was on her game all day,” coach Aiello said. “The only reason I took her out was because she threw 10 innings on Tuesday and 17 innings in two days is a lot. We have the luxury of two pitchers so I was confident in putting Cam in there in the eighth and she made some big pitches to get out of that jam.”
Gloucester returns to action on Friday at home against North Reading (4:30 p.m.).
Gloucester 4, Marblehead 3at Gloucester High School
Marblehead 000 200 10| 3
Gloucester 001 020 01| 4
M: Schmitt, SS, 3-0-0; I. Mortensen, RF, 3-0-0; Bornhorst, C, 4-1-1; Francis, P, 4-1-2; McGovern, 1B, 4-0-0; Adriano, 3B, 3-1-1; Bumargin, LF, 3-0-0; Calienes, 2B, 3-0-2; A. Mortensen, CF, 3-0-0. Totals, 30-3-6.
G: Paone, 2B, 3-0-0; Ciaramitaro, 3B, 3-0-0; Aiello, P/SS, 3-0-0; Carroll, 1B/P, 3-0-0; Carripichosa, SS, 3-0-0; deGaspe Beaubien, C, 3-1-1; Connelly, RF, 2-2-1; Mineo, LF, 3-1-1; Carrancho, CF, 2-0-0. Totals, 25-4-3.
RBI: M, McGovern, Adriano, Calienes; G, Paone 2, Carrancho.
WP, Carroll; LP, Francis.