Old Colony senior pitcher reaches milestone despite COVID impacting her last 2 seasons
ROCHESTER — Abby Orzechowski is happy to be getting a chance to finish her career as a softball player at Old Colony with a full season.
Like many other athletes all across the country, Orzechowski was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. After pitching all but two-thirds of an inning in her freshman season, COVID wiped out her sophomore season and she was limited to 12 games on the mound in an abbreviated junior season.
"That's why this season is so special to me. I love playing softball, but I'll graduate without playing four full seasons and that's disappointing," said Orzechowski, who notched eight strikeouts in the Cougars' 8-7 Mayflower Athletic Conference crossover win over Bristol-Plymouth on Thursday. "I'm grateful for getting a chance to finish on a positive note and I want to make the most of it."
Orzechowski (2-6) entered the game with 199 career strikeouts and she recorded No. 200 with one out in the top of the first inning.
"Abby has played a lot of softball and she came to us with some experience," Old Colony head coach Brandon Mendez said. "She's the only senior on our team and she's had to shoulder a lot of responsibility. She's gone through a lot, but she's never lost her composure. She's a tough competitor who never stops battling."
Orzechowski, who lives in Carver, grew up playing softball and honed her game playing travel ball for the Gateway Fury out of Wareham.
"Softball has always been a big part of my life," said Orzechowski, who's studying culinary arts at OId Colony and likes to cook Japanese and Korean foods. "I played volleyball my first two years here, but I gave it up to concentrate on softball."
Orzechowski had to call on all of her experience and her five-pitch repertoire (fastball, curveball, rise, screwball, and changeup) in a back-and-forth battle against the Craftsmen that culminated with a four-run bottom of the seventh and an emotional walk-off victory.
Orzechowski set the comeback in motion with a leadoff double and she scored to make it a 7-5 game on a RBI single by junior first baseman Felicity Kulack. The Cougars pulled to within 7-6 on an infield error, and they tied the score on a run-scoring single by junior catcher Samantha Tavares. A two-out walk to freshman second baseman Kayleigh DeSousa loaded the bases and sophomore outfielder Lindsey Bacchiocchi capped the Cougars' rally with a game-winning single up the middle.
"Being up in that situation was terrifying, but it all worked out," Bacchiocchi said. "I got a pitch right down the middle and I let it rip. It feels great to win a game like this. We hung in there and never gave up."
It was a tremendous win for the young Cougars, who started three freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors, and one senior.
"We hung tough the whole game and it paid off. I was proud of the girls' resiliency today," Mendez said. "It was nice to come out on top in a tight game against a good team. It was good for a young team to experience that."
It was a tremendous team effort and Mendez said that Orzechowski has been the glue that's held the team together this season.
"She's our leader and she always sets a good example for her teammates," Mendez said. "It's too bad she won't have a full career here, because she's made a lot of progress since her freshman year. There's no telling what she could have accomplished if she had been able to pitch in more games. She has command of all five of her pitches, she's cut down on her walks, and she's at her best when she has to make a big pitch in a tight situation. We're lucky to have her."
HOW IT HAPPENED
First baseman Jessica Slavick had a run-scoring single to help give the Craftsmen a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Tavares delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the second to pull the Cougars to within 2-1 and both teams went scoreless in the third and fourth innings.
The Craftsmen took advantage of three errors by the Cougars to make it a 4-2 game in the fifth, but they made an infield error with the bases loaded in the sixth that plated two runs to tie the score at 4-4.
Run-scoring singles by Slavick, pinch-hitter Sydney England, and second baseman Ada Bouras helped fuel a three-run top of the seventh that gave the Craftsmen a 7-4 lead, but the Cougars rallied for four runs in their final at bat to cap a walk-off win.
WHAT IT MEANS: Old Colony improved to 2-6 overall. The Cougars, who are 0-4 in the Mayflower Athletic Conference Small Division, host league-rival Cape Cod Tech on Wednesday. ... Bristol Plymouth dropped to 4-2 overall. The Craftsmen will take a 2-1 Mayflower Large Division record into Friday's conference game at Bristol Aggie.
BRISTOL-PLYMOUTH STATS: Senior starter Morgan Coughlin allowed seven hits in six innings of work and finished with six strikeouts. ... Aubrey Mabrouk pitched the seventh and took the loss on the mound. She gave up four hits and three of the four runs the Cougars scored against her were earned, ... Catcher Erin Jackson, outfielder Ella Delsignore, Slavick, and Bouras had two-hit games for the Craftsmen, who finished with 13 hits, seven errors, and five stolen bases.
OLD COLONY STATS: The Cougars belted four of their 11 hits in the bottom of the seventh. ... Tavares powered the offense with a pair of run-scoring hits. ... DeSousa and sophomore shortstop Angel Polangeos also had two-hit games. ... Kulack had a run-scoring single that made it a 7-5 game in the bottom of the seventh and the Cougars also got hits from freshman third baseman Patty Spillane, junior outfielder Brooke Jason, Orzechowski, and Bacchiocchi. ... The Cougars made four errors and they stole four bases.
NOTES: DeSousa played second base as a left-hander for the Cougars. ... Bacchiocchi put down a successful sacrifice bunt in the third inning and Polangeos did the same in the seventh. ... The Cougars completed a double play in the fourth on a line drive to Spillane, who threw to first base to erase Bouras and her leadoff single. ... The Cougars play in the Mayflower Small Division with Bristol Aggie, Cape Cod Tech, Norfolk Aggie, South Shore Voke, and Upper Cape. ... The Craftsmen are aligned with Blue Hills, Diman, Southeastern, and Tri-County in the Mayflower Large Division.
Bristol-Plymouth 200 002 3 — 7
Old Colony 010 012 4 — 8
WP: Orzechowski (2-6); LP: Aubrey Mabrouk (0-1)
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Orzechowski reaches milestone as Old Colony beats Bristol-Plymouth
