The 12U Wilton Softball Tourney Team took home the Fairfield County Fastpitch Softball League championship on Sunday afternoon, July 23. The tournament took place in Wilton and ran from Friday through Sunday, July 21-23.
The Warriors, coached by Mallory Rochefort and Kaitlyn Fico, put on an impressive performance throughout the tournament to capture the Championship.
The tournament started for the Warriors on Friday against rival New Canaan. During regular season play, the Warriors had fallen to the New Canaan team twice via walk off losses. Wilton got on the board early going up 2-0 but New Canaan rallied back to take the lead 3-2 and then Wilton rallied back to tie it but once again lost in a walk off 3-4.
The Warriors reset overnight and came back with a vengeance on Saturday morning, blowing out the Stamford Stars 10-0. They then faced a strong Pomperaug team but secured a victory with an 11-10 score, guaranteeing them the number-three seed for the tourney.
Sunday morning started the same way with an 8-0 win against Stamford, earning the Warriors a visit to the second-seeded New Canaan. Once again, this looked like it was going to be another nail biter as the teams were tied 7-7 after two innings. But Wilton pulled away in the third for good and finally beat New Canaan, 11-7, and earned a chance at the championship game.
Wilton faced off against Pomperaug again in the Championship game on Sunday afternoon. This game was a back and forth dominated by offense as Wilton racked up 10 hits while Pomperaug had eight. However, after seven innings, Wilton prevailed 10-7 to win the FCFSL championship.
With Wilton’s second championship after a thrashing the prior weekend in RI, the players demonstrated why Wilton Fastpitch Softball is here to stay.
Wilton was led on the mound by its workhorses (1-and-2 punch) in Leianna Cross and Ruby Prior, who combined to pitch all 31 innings over the weekend. Wilton’s offense was powered with 58 hits over six games, highlighted by the long and high home run by Molly Mercer. Sarah Viggiano, Ava Rosado, Juliette Ring and Katerina Cross all dominated at the plate as they combined for 34 hits between the four of them over the weekend.
Anna West out of the four hole in the Wilton lineup led all hitters with 11 RBIs over the weekend. Starting shortstop Katie McKay was perfect in the field over the weekend as the team’s leadoff hitter and set the tone by reaching base numerous times. The team was rounded out with exceptional field play from Maeve Morash in right field throughout the bracket play on Sunday along with some timely pinch running from Sophie Zhang. The team was surprised as their teammate Tess Gibbons returned just in time to cheer them onto a victory.
The team gave special thanks to Nick Prior as the director for the FCFSL tourney and John Morash, who headed up the Wilton Softball field crew over the weekend plus all the Wilton Softball community volunteers who made the weekend special and memorable for all players.