Not even 24 hours after the Bridgewater-Raritan High School baseball team was defeated on a walk-off hit by Immaculata High School in the 13th inning, the Panthers softball team found itself in extra innings on a chilly evening at Delaware Valley Regional High School.
After Bridgewater-Raritan (1-1) collected two unearned runs in the top of the first inning, sophomore Grace Slack (9 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 7 BB, 10 K) and her defense ended the game with eight consecutive shutout innings for Delaware Valley (1-0).
The Terriers forced extra innings with one run each in the bottom of the third and sixth innings, but on the second pitch of the bottom of the ninth inning, Slack (2-3, 2 RBI, HR, R, BB) belted a leadoff, solo home run over the center field fence to clinch a thrilling 3-2 victory for the Terriers Wednesday, April 2, in Frenchtown.
Bridgewater-Raritan sophomore Brynn Hawley (8 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) took the loss in an epic pitcher’s duel, which had the Panthers deny 10 baserunners and their infield collect 20 of its 24 outs on defense. Hawley tossed just 110 pitches in her solid outing and retired eight straight batters before the walk-off homer by Slack.