Sacred Heart Academy Defeats Rocky Hill To Advance to Class M Softball Championship

Sacred Heart Academy picked a great time to play its best softball of the season, beating Rocky Hill 5-2 Monday night at West Haven to advance to the finals of the Class M state championship.

The Pacers relied on a strong pitching performance from freshman phenom Molly Flowers and a nine-hit attack that included a home run to vanquish the Terriers, who managed only one hit off Flowers.

That hit came in the fourth inning when the Terriers managed to score two unearned runs, the first on a throwing error on a bunt attempt that allowed a base runner to score from first.

But the Pacers bounced back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth when they hit for the cycle, starting with a home run by Gina Valentine, a deep drive into the right field corner that eluded the right fielder and allowed Valentine to round the bases. Valentine’s homer was followed by a triple by Jenna DeMartino, a double by Maegan Rodriguez and a single by Linsey DeDomenico that produced the three run inning that propelled the Pacers to victory.

Flowers was virtually unhittable, recording 14 strike outs, including three in two innings.

“I try and get them to swing at balls a lot because sometimes my two seam pitch I don’t really know where it’s going to go, so it’s in and out,” she said.

She said she throws two and four seam fastballs and changeups and for the most part they were hard strikes that the Terriers flailed away at.

“She has so much courage she just goes out there and battles,” said Pacers coach Ray Ramelli. “Give her a few runs and then you get that feeling in the dugout she’s going to be tough to beat now.”

Ramelli also praised the offensive attack. “We really started hitting in this tournament,” he said. “We brought out the bats.” Rodriguez led the way with three hits, including a double.

Sacred Heart finished the regular season with four losses in its last six games and was ranked 23rd in the Class M tournament. They won the first three games of the tournament over higher ranked teams, topping 10th ranked Woodland 4-1, 7th ranked Suffield 3-2 and 15th ranked Stonington 8-6.

The win over Rocky Hill is icing on the cake. “To come this far, it’s been a wonderful ride,” Ramelli said.

The championship game will played later this week against first ranked Seymour, which boasts a 22-1 record. The Pacers will look to continue their string of tournament upsets to win the state championship crown.

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