WILLIMANTIC – Camryn Fisher hadn’t given up an earned run all season.
But in her last game, on Wednesday, in the Class L softball semifinal, an opponent finally broke through and scored.
It took extra innings and Fisher, the Ellington ace who was honored as the state Gatorade Player of the Year Monday, struck out 15 but Waterford scored on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning and won, 1-0, at Eastern Connecticut State University, advancing to the Class L championship game Saturday at UConn’s Burrill Family Field at a time to be determined.
Waterford, the No. 2 seed, will face the winner of Thursday’s Masuk-St. Joseph’s semifinal game. Masuk has won the Class L championship the last six years.
“All year, she’s been spectacular, no different today,” Ellington coach Tom Gordon said of Fisher, who will pitch at Appalachian State next season. “(Nine) innings – that’s what it takes to beat a pitcher like her. I just wish she was a freshman.
“This is always the worst day of the year for me.”
Fisher and Waterford pitcher Brielle Kenney dueled through nine innings. Kenney had 13 strikeouts and had a no-hitter going into the eighth inning when Ellington’s leadoff hitter Taylor Havener, a freshmen, doubled with two outs. Senior Mickyla Wong followed that with a single but Kenney struck out Tyla Gambacorta, a sophomore, to end the inning.
In the ninth, Ellington (21-4) had two baserunners with one out but Alyssa Corsino hit the ball back to Kenney, who caught it and then doubled up Fisher at second to get out of the inning.
Fisher struck out Gabrielle Fontaine to start the bottom of the ninth but Ava Waddington singled then moved to second and third on wild pitches. That set up Paige Jessuck’s sacrifice fly to right field which won the game.
“It was amazing,” Jessuck said. “I knew my teammate was going to score. I was very happy.”
The Lancers cranked up the pitching machine the last few days in anticipation of facing Fisher.
“We knew we were facing a phenomenal pitcher – a hurricane,” Waterford coach Andy Walker said. “We thought we’d do a lot of small ball, which I’m not used to doing.
“Camryn – it’s her velocity, No. 1. The spin she has on the ball. It’s right on top of you. If you’re not used to seeing that speed, which we aren’t … we had to crank up the machine all week and try to get some timing with speed. They did a pretty good job. Initially it was kind of tough.”
Ellington advanced to the Class L final last year but lost to Masuk 4-0. It was Fisher’s goal to get back to the championship but she had a very different team around her after seven starters graduated. She knew she had to do more and she did.
Fisher, who had a 37-strikeout 14-inning victory in April and recorded her 1,000th career strikeout earlier this season, threw two perfect games to advance Ellington to the semifinal, beating Lyman Hall 1-0 and Ledyard 3-0.
“We had a very young team,” Gordon said. “They came a long way. Early in the year, we had kids that barely knew what hand to put the glove on and today they made every play that they could make. They were a special group this year. They never stopped working.
“It was hard for them, Cam’s thrown perfect game after perfect game and they don’t get many balls in play but they never stopped working and when we needed them today, the defense was special.
“We climbed right on her back and she took us here.”
Class L semifinal
at ECSU
Waterford 1, Ellington 0 (9 innings)
Ellington 000 000 000 0 2 0
Waterford 000 000 001 1 3 1
WP-Brielle Kenney; LP-Cam Fisher
Records: Waterford, 21-4; Ellington, 21-4