DARTMOUTH — With her team trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning of the Division 3 softball semifinals, Norton senior Sandy Fairbairn knew she needed to set the tone.
The Lancers’ leadoff hitter laced a single into left field and sparked a rally that saw No. 4 Norton put eight runs on the board and defeat No. 9 Bishop Fenwick 8-1 to advance to the state championship.
“That’s what we needed in that moment and that’s what I’m going for,” Fairbairn said. “I knew my teammates were behind me and ready to bring me home any way they can.”
The win sets up a date in the Division 3 final against No. 6 Middleboro, and Lancers’ coach Wade Lizotte said town pride and team chemistry helped them reach the milestone.
“It’s fantastic for the program,” Lizotte said. “This tightness and how we pick each other up, that’s small-town Norton and they do it really well.”
While it took the Lancers six innings to score a run, they almost did it in the first. Fairbairn led off the bottom of the first with a triple but was called out at the plate trying to stretch it into an inside-the-park home run.
“We do great when we score early,” Fairbairn said. “I was trying to give us that lead to start off.”
Despite the hot start, Crusaders’ pitcher Gigi Aupont settled in and limited the Lancers to just one additional hit until the sixth inning. On the other side, Norton pitcher Liana Danubio was matching the performance.
The only blemish came when a Megan Burkinshaw double turned into a Fenwick run after two consecutive bunts in the top of the fifth. That was the extent of the scoring until the fateful sixth inning, where after Fairbairn’s single and a subsequent stolen base, Danubio had a chance to help herself.
She started the at-bat by trying to bunt but smacked a single into the left-center gap once given the green light, scoring Fairbairn and tying the game.
“I just wanted to help my team out,” Danubio said. “We needed some runs, so I just really wanted to get a hit.”
The single was followed up by a triple from Sienna Pietrasiewicz, and the hit parade continued after that. The Lancers batted around, and Danubio added two more RBI after smoking a triple in her second plate appearance of the inning.
“I’m just thinking eye to the ball,” Danubio said. “Lots of adrenaline going on, I was just really happy to help my team and get the runs in.”
Danubio took that momentum into the top of the seventh and finished the job on the mound to clinch the victory. Lizotte said the comeback effort shows how gritty his team is.
“We seemed to pull the right triggers today,” Lizotte said. “They saw the possibilities and the things that we could do with it.”
