In game one last Thursday the Knights were leading 3-0 until the fourth inning when multiple errors led to 5 runs for Melrose.  “Unfortunately, against a tough AA undefeated team, it’s hard to come back from that,” commented WCA Head Coach Vanessa McNamara.  “Lily Mahoney did a nice job in the circle, considering the frigid temps.  Brinley Ulrich, Izzy Puchalski, Madison Fagre and Sophie Sanstead hit the ball hard in this game.”

In game two, played on Monday, the Knights gave Melrose their first loss with a walk-off double by Brinley Ulrich in the bottom of the ninth inning.  Big hits from Sanstead, Alaina Sykora, Addison Staples and Zoey Fuhrman created a lot of opportunities for the Knights who pushed across two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game and force extra innings.  “Against a team like Melrose, you have to create your own opportunities as they won’t give you many,” noted Coach McNamara.  “Great heads up base running and excellent hitting helped our team immensely.  Madi Fagre went 4-for-5 and Sophie Sanstead had a pair of hits in 3 at bats.  We had many other players contributing at the plate.  Lily did a nice job settling in after the first inning.  Her consistency with Addison behind the plate is clutch to our success.”

Coach McNamara concluded with, “As coaches, we were extremely proud of the grit it took for our kids to pull out this win against an undefeated team who they had just lost to on Thursday.  It’s fun to have our young kids step up and make big plays to end a game.  Huge congrats to Brinley Ulrich for stepping up and hitting a double off the fence, that in reality was a home run when played out, but in that situation the game ended when the winning run crossed home plate so she only gets credited for the double..  It was fun to see, fun to be outside, and even more fun to pull out a huge win against a good team.  We look forward to an outdoor practice and our double header against Montevideo on Thursday in Barrett.”