The Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central softball teams played each other for the first time out on the diamond on King Street on Friday, and the game they put together was awesome.
Both teams had to wait until the eighth inning to push a run across. The Rams got one in the top of the eighth, but the Lancers responded with two in the bottom half to claim the 2-1 walk-off win.
Ali Tellier of Eastern and Alex Sciarretto of Central traded zeroes for the first seven innings. Tellier had given up five hits, struck out five and worked around three hit batsmen. Sciarretto had also given up five hits, but had struck out 10, walked three and hit one.
The first run of the game came on a bang, a solo home run off the bat of Gwen Torreso, and gave Central a 1-0 lead. Tellier sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a walk, then got a grounder back to her to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Sam Policki led off with a single. Jasmine Perez bunted Policki to second. Riley Giblin’s grounder to short moved Policki to third, but there were two outs. Janessa Gonzalez ripped an RBI single to center field to tie the game, then moved up to second on the throw home. That brought up Jazmyn Browne, who singled to left center to score Gonzalez and give Eastern a stunning 2-1 win.
Mike Letendre, sports writer for The Bristol Edition, summed it up pretty well in a tweet: “Bristol Eastern’s 2-1 8th inning softball victory over Bristol Central today was probably the best scholastic softball game I’ve seen in 15 yrs. Both teams brought it. It was tremendous. And the defense by both squads, I was just left totally impressed. Can’t wait for the rematch.”
Both teams won games on Friday, and each side is 7-3. For those who are interested, the rematch between the Lancers and Rams is scheduled for May 24 at Bristol Central High School at 3:45 p.m.
