BRADFORD — All good things must come to an end, and on Tuesday afternoon, that was the case for the Oxbow High softball team, which saw its 68-game winning streak snapped by Lyndon Institute, 17-7.
The Vikings, the VPA Division II runner-ups from last season, jumped out to an early lead against the five-time Division III state champions and pulled away after the Olympians fought back from the early deficit.
Oxbow amassed seven hits and committed five errors in the loss.
“In the end, it turned out that Lyndon wanted it more than we did,” said Oxbow head coach Chuck Simmons, whose team won last year’s matchup with the Vikings 5-0. “We came to battle, we hit — we just hit right at them, and I felt like we tried to do everything we could possibly do.”
Ultimately, Oxbow’s skipper said the loss came down to him.
“Mix-and-match pitchers, tried different scenarios, and in the end, I think it falls on me as a coach and a learning experience for me,” Simmons said.
Lyndon jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first inning with the aid of two singles, a walk and a wild pitch.
The Olympians started chipping away at the deficit in the bottom half of the first.
Oxbow loaded the bases after Abby Longto walked and Mazie Bourgeois and Noemi Rosa reached base on errors.
Brooke Osgood knocked in Oxbow’s first run on a groundout to short, and Braylee Phelps drove in two more on a single to make the game 6-3 before the end of the frame.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Olympians scored twice, the first time thanks to crafty baserunning from Bourgeois, who led the inning off by reaching first base on a dropped third strike. She proceeded to steal second and scored on an error to make the game 6-4.
Later in the inning, Maisy Frydman delivered an RBI double that drove in Osgood, who had tripled.
But 6-5 was as close as Oxbow would get to extending its winning streak.
The Vikings scored five times in the top of the fourth inning, highlighted by a three-run homer from Kiara Searl.
Lyndon added three more runs in the top of the fifth inning to go up 14-5, and Oxbow added one in the bottom half.
The Vikings hit another three-run homer in the top of the seventh, this one from Anneliese Webber.
Another run from the Olympians in the bottom of the seventh set the final score.
With the winning streak at an end, Simmons said he was proud of what the program has accomplished.
“From (2023) to now, I think every game, every championship has been special,” he said. “Words can’t explain how good that streak was for so long.”
Simmons acknowledged that Tuesday’s loss was a sobering experience.
“This has humbled us because — as coaches, as players — we haven’t put all our ducks in a row,” he said.
The Olympians (2-1) visit U-32 (2-1) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
“I explained to them, I hope this was a humbling experience for them,” Simmons said. “It shows that we need to continue to work hard every day, and when we don’t work hard, these things happen.”
