Pirates win softball 'Majors' title

The Pirates defeated the Orioles, 5-1, to win the Lou Gehrig softball "Majors" championship. Members of the team, pictured from left are: first row - Jamie Kenyon, Jessica Mucci, Andrea Cicatello, Katie Topolski, Anastasia Flynn, Madison Courtney; second row - Jordan Roetzer, Shannon Wilk, Kristen Fischer, Amelia Hallac, Emily Fernando; third row - Mark Mucci (assistant coach), John Fischer (head coach) and Chris Topolski (assistant coach).

The Lou Gehrig softball Pirates defeated the Orioles, 5-1, in a very tight contest to win the "Majors" championship.

The Pirates had a good regular season record, finishing with a 9-6-1 record.

The playoff record was three wins, including the final and one loss. There were contributions by all players throughout the season that helped the team achieve their success. There was tremendous pitching all season from Jamie Kenyon, Kristen Fischer, Andrea Cicatello, Jessica Mucci and Madison Courtney.

The team could always count on consistent hitting from Jordan Roetzer, Katie Topolski and Amelia Hallac with outstanding fielding plays when it mattered the most from Emily Fernando, Anastasia Flynn and Shannon Wilk.

The Pirates and Orioles had played each other twice during the regular season with one win apiece before meeting in the final. It was looking like it was going to be a very exciting game played by two closely matched teams. And indeed it was.

The Orioles made eight tremendous fielding plays throughout the game to throw out Pirate base runners and eliminate their chances of scoring. But the Pirates had strong pitching from Kenyon and Fischer, who registered seven and five strikeouts, respectively.

Great efforts by both teams kept the game tied at 1-1 going into the sixth inning. That is when the bats broke loose for the Pirates, allowing them to score four runs. The Orioles side was retired with three consecutive strikeouts by Kenyon to win the championship, 5-1.

The semifinal game on July 17 versus the Rockies was very close and a real nail-biter right to the end. The game was tied at 8-8 in the sixth inning when a huge hit was blasted into the outfield by Roetzer to drive in two runs and win the game.