THETFORD — Peyton Richardson was always going to be the Windsor High softball team’s most important player this year, and during the regular season, the Yellowjackets learned the hard way just how important she was.
The senior’s pitching workload was limited due to arm injuries, and against a difficult schedule by VPA Division III standards, Windsor struggled, winning just three games and allowing a combined 87 runs in its last five contests, all losses. But Richardson was back at full strength for the No. 10 seed Yellowjackets’ playoff opener at No. 7 seed Thetford, and she led Windsor to a tense 7-6 victory with both her arm and bat.
In the circle, Richardson went the distance, scattering eight hits and three walks while striking out eight. At the plate, she was 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI double in the first inning to get the scoring started.
“I took a couple games off to rest, and I kind of just pushed through,” Richardson said. “It’s my senior year.”
The Yellowjackets (4-12), semifinalists last year but tasked with replacing 11 seniors and their head coach, scored twice in the first and three more times in the fourth to establish a five-run lead. But the Panthers (5-8), who left a runner in scoring position in each of the first three innings, finally broke through in their half of the fourth. Richardson allowed two walks and hit a batter, and all three runners came home on a two-out triple by freshman Rebecca Osgood.
After Windsor got a run back in the fifth, Thetford again rallied for three to tie the game on sophomore Kelsey Bogie’s RBI single, a wild pitch and a groundout from sophomore Whitney Lewis.
“What I saw is perseverance,” an emotional Michelle Morgan, the Panthers’ first-year head coach, said postgame. “Sometimes they get down on themselves, but they fought so hard and they never gave up. They came back; they started building momentum. It was really impressive. The girls were excited, they stayed composed, they really showed maturity out there.”
Morgan’s daughter, freshman catcher Eiea Morgan, was dealing with a knee injury and was a game-time decision. She and her head coach ultimately reached a compromise to have her play the first four innings, after which freshman Ashlyn Osgood, Rebecca’s twin sister who had never caught before, replaced her.
The Yellowjackets took advantage of Osgood’s inexperience to steal four bases over the final three innings, and they scored the eventual winning run in the seventh on a wild pitch.
Senior shortstop Megan Holling also had two hits for the Yellowjackets, driving in a run in the first and coming around to score the game-winner in the seventh. Another senior, Sarah DeSchamp, reached twice in her three plate appearances, contributing an RBI single in the fourth.
“The want was there today,” Windsor first-year head coach Kelsey Mason said. “The energy was up. We knew we had to limit our errors, and we were able to limit them. Peyton had a good game, we had some good plays in the field, we had some really good hits in the first few innings.”
Thetford may be disappointed with the early exit, but the Panthers finished last in the division a year ago with just four wins before falling, 15-0, in the first round of the playoffs. They only lose one senior, Krystal McKinney, and nine of their 14 players this season were freshmen, so they should be in good shape for future postseason runs.
Freshman Makayla Stanley pitched a complete game for Thetford, also allowing eight hits. She walked four and struck out six.
Mason, who said she never won a playoff game in her four years playing at Hartford, enjoyed a successful postseason debut in her coaching career. Her Yellowjackets will now travel to No. 2 seed Vergennes for the quarterfinals on Friday.
“They want to be here and they have a lot of energy left to give, especially our seniors,” Mason said. “Most of my seniors have come off two championship wins (in field hockey and basketball), and they want to have a third. It could be a Cinderella story.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.