On Softball: Superb defensive plays saved Tanners season

Jun. 15—LOWELL — Call it the tag heard around Tanner Town.

Throughout Tuesday night's thrilling Division 1 state semifinal between stingy Peabody High and a Wachusett team averaging 11 runs a game in the state tournament, it seemed like the Mountaineers were one spark away from a full-on offensive eruption.

The most dangerous embers were swirling with the Tanners clinging to a one-run lead in the bottom of the fourth. After a leadoff walk, Wachusett got aggressive and tried to steal second.

That's when the game changed.

Shortstop Emma Bloom cut across the bag, reached up like a wide receiver to grab a throw from catcher Bo Bettencourt, and quickly reached back to nip the runner on her shoulder.

Time seemed to stop at Martin Field as 500-plus fans waited for the umpire's signal: Out.

"Bo's throw was as close as she could get that fast, over and a little high. I just reached to see if I could tag her — and it went our way," said Bloom, whose play might have been the difference in the ballgame.

Wachusett had back-to-back singles in its next two at-bats, so a run certainly would've scored and tied the game at 1-1 if the base stealer was safe. Instead, the mercurial Abby Bettencourt retired the side and the Tanners went on to win, 3-2, to advance to the Division 1 state final for the first time ever.

Aggression on the bases by Peabody (22-2) made Bloom's tag stand out even more so. Abby Bettencourt drew a leadoff walk and stole both second and third on razor thin plays before being batted in by her older sister, Bo, for the game's first run. In both instances, and on two steals on Logan Lomasney (2-for-3, RBI), Peabody runners slid underneath low tags.

Perhaps it wasn't intentional, but Bloom delivering a high tag rather than one that could be slid under made the difference in getting the call.

"We practice throwing people out all the time, but that kind of tag, that's just an athletic, head-up instinct play by Emma Bloom," said Peabody head coach Tawny Palmieri. "You can't really teach something like that."

The No. 4 seed in D1 that had played in each of the last four state championship games, Wachusett (22-2) was relentless offensively for most of the night. Abby Bettencourt, a sophomore, scattered seven hits and struck out 10. She varied her speeds like a seasoned veteran and was never rattled when the Mountaineers called late time to try and disrupt her quick-pitch or rhythm; Wachusett fouled off 2-strike potential out pitches 12 times in the game and Abby never blinked.

She also benefitted from some ridiculous defense. Lomasney, the second baseman, made the play of the day to end that momentous fourth inning. With two in scoring position and two out, she dove to stop a hard hit ground ball from getting out of the infield and calmly fired to first to retire the side.

"I looked at her before the pitch and said, 'Logan, nothing through, nothing by you.'," Bloom said. "She got dirty and that's what it takes to win at this level ... that saved us."

It would've been enough to knock the ball down, save a run and play for the next batter with the lead. Making a clean throw to finish the play was the icing on the cake.

"Keeping it in the infield was huge," Palmieri said. "Getting the out was even better."

Number nine seeds aren't supposed to make state finals in this new power ranking system, but no one in the Peabody dugout cared after playing one of the best games of their lives. Palmieri knew it would be a close game all the way, ran aggressively and put pressure on the Mountaineers; part of it was because she knew Wachusett would be tough to score on ... but part of it was because she knew if she could get a lead, even against a team averaging over eight runs a game, it would probably be enough.

"Abby and my defense can hang with anyone in the state," Palmieri said. "We tried to keep it light, don't get the kids too nervous. The athletes we have, the pitcher we have, we knew if we did what we could to score some runs we'd be in this type of game."

Lomasney's triple plated Kiley Doolin (walk) to make it 2-0 in the sixth, a good thing since Wachusett struck for one in the bottom half. Bloom led off the seventh with a single and scored a two-out single by Doolin for another pad run, which turned out to be crucial since Cailtin Ciccone hit an in-the-park homer with one down in the seventh.

If that bothered Abby Bettencourt, she didn't show it, simply striking out the next two batters to send the Tanners to the state championship game on Saturday against either Taunton or Methuen (time TBA, location tentatively UMass Amherst).

"It feels amazing, I literally can't describe it," said Bloom. "We took a deep breath, collectively, and we refocused and got it done."

You can contact Matt Williams at MWilliams@salemnews.com and follow along on Twitter @MattWilliams_SN #StrikeOutALS