In a one-game playoff series in Division II high school fastpitch softball, the No. 2 Davies Patriots, outlasted the No. 7 Johnston Panthers, 6-5.
Davies won in dramatic fashion when freshman Meghan Connors hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Patriots the victory.
The Patriots also got a lot of help from their pitcher, Madison Goodhart. She was dominating hitters from the very beginning. The senior ended the day with a mighty 13 strikeouts, and she added three hits while she was at the plate.
“Maddy is our leadoff hitter,” Davies head coach Scott Cooper said. “She’s our little powerhouse on the mound.”
Cooper says Goodhart is “locked in” when she is on the mound. “She just does her own thing,” Cooper said. “She’s in her own little world, which is awesome. She listens to us and she doesn’t really worry about what goes on around her. It’s just her and the catcher and that’s it.”
Both team’s starting pitchers played the entire game.
The Patriots got to Johnston pitcher Alicia Carvalho early. Prior to this game, Carvalho had thrown three consecutive complete-game shutouts.
Despite the loss ending his team’s season, Johnston head coach Steven Day was happy of his team’s efforts all season.
“I’m very proud of the team,” said Day. “Today they almost pulled out a game against the number one team in their conference. They’ve taken on a lot of tall orders this year and they’ve pulled out a lot.”
The Patriots and their coach were thrilled with the victory.
“We are all excited,” Cooper said. “This is our first Division II playoff win ever.”
This is Davies’ third year in Division II, and in the previous two years, it lost to Pilgrim and West Warwick in the first round.
“Hats off to my girls,” Cooper said. “I’m very excited that they pulled it out.”
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