WINDSOR — The Windsor High softball team showed its resilience Saturday morning, overcoming a blown three-run lead to pick up its second win of the season.
Behind a strong performance from catcher Cassie Clark, who hit three triples and made a key defensive play to close out the game, the Yellow Jackets defeated Thetford Academy 9-6.
“Senior leader right there, she took it on her shoulders, she was determined that we were going to come away successful,” Windsor coach Wendy Moody said of Clark’s performance. “She is a true leader in every sense of the word.”
Because this was technically a road game for Windsor — but played on their home field because Thetford’s was not ready — the Jacks batted first and came out swinging.
Clark hit her first triple of the day to drive in Molly Burke, who had reached base on a fielder’s choice earlier in the inning. The next batter, Mackenzie Kleefisch, grounded out, scoring Clark to give Windsor a 2-0 lead.
Burke, Windsor’s starter, and Thetford starter Chloe Cooper then settled in, and neither team scored again until the fourth inning, when the Jacks extended their lead. Kleefisch again drove in Clark — who had tripled to lead off the inning — on a groundout, pushing the advantage to 3-0.
Trailing by three in the bottom of the fifth with two outs, the Panthers rallied. After Carly Brown singled and Greta Johnson walked, the pair advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Nina Sullivan then hit a grounder to first that went under the fielder’s glove, scoring two to make it 3-2. Autumn Powers doubled after Ellea Osgood reached on an error, and Thetford took a 4-3 lead by the end of the frame.
The Jacks did not panic. Clark led off the top of the sixth with her third triple of the game, and the next two batters walked to load the bases. Windsor retook the lead on a Thetford fielding error, a wild pitch and a two-RBI single from Olivia LaRochelle to go up 7-4.
“When we went down, we didn’t let it get to us,” Clark said. “In a couple of games, we’ve let errors get to us here and there, but everyone did a good job of flushing it out.”
Windsor added two runs in the top of the seventh to lead 9-4, but Thetford did not go quietly. The Panthers cut the deficit to 9-6 with one out and runners on second and third before Clark came up big again.
Relief pitcher Cadence Dougher forced Cooper to pop up to Clark, who ran down the third-base line and tagged a Thetford runner off the bag to seal the win.
“We didn’t bring fielding mistakes to bat and vice-versa, and really played in the moment, and that kept our energy going,” Moody said.
Windsor (2-1) visits Proctor on Monday at 4:30 p.m. Thetford (0-1) hosts Lake Region on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
