By Rick Menning
MILFORD, CT -- Breen Field on the campus of the A. Bartlett Giamatti Leadership Training Center in Bristol continues over the years to be a home away from home for Milford's Little League 12-under division All-Star softball teams.
For the fourth straight year since the pandemic, Connecticut will be represented by Milford athletes who simply refuse to lose with the state title on the line.
In Tuesday's decisive game of the state tournament, host Milford battled with focus and determination in extreme late afternoon heat and defeated a strong Madison team, 3-1, in front of a standing-room-only crowd that filled the bleachers and lined the outfield fence at Brewster Field.
After losing the previous evening to force the "if necessary" game against their Section 3 rivals, Milford trailed for the third time in four state games but on two of those occasions these diamond dynamos showed their heart and willpower with comeback efforts.
The victory on Tuesday gives Milford a 6-1 All-Star record through both sectional and state competition as the girls now head north to Bristol to take on Rhode Island in their New England Region tournament opener.
When the ESPN+ cameras go live at 8 p.m. on Sunday night, viewers will once again see the familiar blue and gold uniforms of Milford as Connecticut's best 12-under division squad begins its quest for a third straight berth in the Little League Softball World Series in Greenville, North Carolina.
In the clutch times two
Milford might not be in the position it's in were it not for the batting heroics of extra hitter Brynn Ayres in the two state tournament wins over Madison.
After her two-RBI single to right field completed Milford's first comeback against Madison on Saturday, Ayres stepped up to the plate in the fifth inning of a 1-1 ballgame on Tuesday and ripped a sinking liner to right field that was the difference in the 3-1 outcome.
"When I came up (to bat), I was just thinking that I have to do it again and get a big hit," Ayres said while celebrating the state title with her teammates. "I had the mindset that she was going to have to pitch me a strike so I was ready for it."
Ayres' decisive hit scored Dylan Gaglione, who had reached first base on an infield hit, and Sofia Capalbo, who followed Gaglione with a single.
Milford overcame a 12-strikeout performance by Madison pitcher Campbell Leckey -- who along with Milford's Marina Cosmas are among the best Little League softball 12U pitchers in Connecticut -- in what Ayres noted is the team's attitude of perseverance and never getting down.
"When we strike out or make a mistake, we get right back into it and get up and start cheering for each other," she said. "It's really just not feeling sorry for ourselves and just keep supporting each other."
With Madison ahead 1-0 in the clincher, Capalbo reached first base when her sharp grounder eluded the Madison shortstop, and she subsequently raced home on a wild pitch to tie the game at 1-1 in the third inning.
Lightning clearly struck twice for Ayres, who when the dust settled at states came through with four RBI in two very important at-bats.
Deserving fun references
Milford manager Joe Urban smiled when noting that after Tuesday's game Ayres received a new nickname from her teammates: Big Game Brynn.
"The way she just came through at the end in both those games," said Urban, who also nicknamed his team as a whole the "cardiac kids" in the way they have fought and battled throughout the All-Star journey.
Going back to sectional action, Milford had to survive a pair of tough games against Fairfield (1-0 and 4-3) in order to even reach the state tournament. They also defeated Wilton 10-0 at sectionals.
"We have such a tight group," Urban continued. "They just (always) pick each other up and have played with their heart the entire time. Tonight, we also had the defense to back up Marina."
Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning of their first match-up against Madison, the Section 2 champions rallied all the way back with Ayres supplying the clutch hit to put them ahead to stay.
After back-to-back walks to Gaglione and Paige Perry, Capalbo was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Gaglione scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 2-1 and Ayres followed with a two-run single to advance Milford to the state championship round.
Excelling inside the circle
Marina Cosmas, the only returning player from last year's team that advanced all the way to the Little League Softball World Series, made a huge statement with solid rebound pitching in Tuesday's action.
After a rough game on Monday, Cosmas was super motivated to succeed in the state title encounter and at one point retired 16 straight Madison batters to keep her team in the tight contest and provide the opportunity for Ayres to prevail.
"(Monday night) when I got home, I was thinking to myself that I can't let that affect me in the next game, and today I think I did a much better job (overall) which I was very happy about," Cosmas said about her fantastic bounce-back performance.
Cosmas relied on what has worked best for her throughout All-Star tournament play in order to keep an aggressive Madison squad off the basepaths for the most part in the state clincher.
"I mainly threw my curve ball and my fast ball because those are my two strongest pitches," she said. "After I hit that girl (in the second inning), I just (shrugged it off), refocused and started going and they couldn't stop me."
Only a two-out single by Madison's Emmalyn Wells in the top of the sixth and final inning prevented Cosmas from completely shutting Madison down after the hit by pitch in the second inning.
"She just got that fast ball going and she kept it low in the zone," Urban explained. "She also has a good curve ball and (Madison) just couldn't hit anything hard the entire time."
Cosmas was also terrific on Saturday with 10 strikeouts in a complete-game effort. She allowed only two infield hits in the 3-2 comeback thriller.
And, in the state tournament opener on Friday, Cosmas threw a no-hitter and was also key offensively as Milford edged Berlin, 1-0.
Grace Dubin's RBI grounder scored Cosmas with the game's only run in the top of the first inning, Milford had loaded the bases via walks to Ella Urban and Cosmas and a single by Mya Corris before Dubin came through in the clutch.
Cosmas was again in command as she struck out seven Berlin batters.
Catcher handles sequences
Dubin, who has caught all of Cosmas' games, knew that her batterymate would bounce back strong when everything was hanging in the balance.
Dubin and Cosmas team up with all the signals as to what pitch will be thrown depending on the situation.
"I try to encourage Marina as she goes along in a game," said Dubin, noting that Cosmas walked only one batter in the state finale and was effectively locating her pitches. "Her curve balls and her inside pitches were great today. And even when she threw a couple of balls, she always seemed to come back from it."
Dubin went on to say that she has always been optimistic about Milford's chances to return to Bristol as the team has been together since their 10-under division season.
"I feel like we all have a very special bond. We're all friends," Dubin said. "The competition at states is always tough and at regionals it's the same so we are going up (to Bristol) knowing what to expect."
Connecticut's state champions
Milford 12-Under Division Little League Girls Softball State Champion Team Roster (in alphabetical order): Brynn Ayres, Sofia Capalbo, Mya Corris, Marina Cosmas, Grace Dubin, Dylan Gaglione, Lilly Kalagher, Teagan Liphardt, Paige Perry, Nia Richardson, Kendall Upchurch and Ella Urban.
Connecticut's state runners-up
Madison12-Under Division Little League Girls Softball State Runner-up Team Roster (in alphabetical order): Riley Amenta, Eden Anderson, Bella Fahy, Chase Ferraiolo, Lexi Fulton, Campbell Leckey, Claire MacKay, Riley Marchese, Sadie McHugh, Ava Mirante, Audrey Sears and Emmalyn Wells.
Comments