A whirlwind season for the Simmons College softball team continued for at least one more day on Saturday, as the Sharks experienced to lowest of lows and the highest of highs in the span of just a few hours. dropping one, and winning the second to advance to the final day of the ECAC tournament at Brandeis University
In game one of the double elimination final four of the ECAC tournament Simmons was matched up with Keene St.
The Sharks hit the ball well in the early going but couldn't find any holes as the Owls played stellar defense. Simmons ace Sammi Letizio pitched very well, but a Keen St. home run in the fourth gave the Owls a 1-0 lead.
Simmons continued to come up empty until the seventh when senior captain Ann Talarico connected on a solo home run to straight away center to tie the game at 1-1.
The Owls loaded the bases in the seventh, and after the Sharks got two outs, Keene St.'s Katie Allenson belted a grand slam to give her squad a 5-1 victory.
Simmons didn't let the disappointment fester in the second game of the day against former GNAC rival Western New England.
Sophomore Leah Derderian launched a solo home run over the left field fence in the second inning for a 1-0 lead. WNEC took the lead in the fourth with a three run homer of their own, and expanded the lead to 5-1 in the sixth with a two run shot.
That's where the fun began for Simmons.
Facing the prospect of the end of its season the Sharks banded together to pull off another memorable comeback that has become the signature of this team.
Talarico led the inning off with a single, and Dannie Szabo followed with a double. Senior Natalie West singled home Talarico, to cut the deficit to 5-2. Sam Green followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Szabo.
Derderian took one for the team, and reached base the hard way, via the hit by pitch. After WNEC was able to get the second out of the inning, Kristen Souza came up and battled a tough at bat before stroking a single into the left center field gap that scored West.
Letizio was running for Derderian, and tried to get to third base, drawing a throw from the left fielder that ended up in the WNEC dugout that allowed her to score the tying run.
Tied at 5-5, Letizio got the Golden Bears down in order in the top of the seventh setting the stage for some late inning heroics for the Sharks.
Emily Nalband led the inning off with a bloop single to right. Talarico and Szabo each worked walks to load the bases with nobody out, setting the stage for West.
The senior captain got down two strikes quickly, but evened the count, before getting a pitch she liked, driving it to deep right field for a single that brought Nalband home with the game winning run and a thrilling 6-5 victory.
The Sharks advanced to the final of the losers bracket to be played Sunday at 1 p.m. back at Brandeis.