BURLINGTON — Freshman Izzy Ortiz hit a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Burlington High softball team pull out a dramatic 4-3 win over visiting Arlington in a Middlesex League showdown at Marvin Field.
The game, which took more than three hours to complete, saw Arlington take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Burlington (10-0) tied the score in the fourth before each team added single runs in the sixth.
The Spy Ponders (6-4) started the top of the ninth inning with a single by sophomore starting pitcher Soline Fisher, but after a sacrifice bunt, Fisher was stranded at second.
In the bottom of the ninth, Red Devil sophomore Madison King pounded a leadoff triple to center, but Fisher induced two infield pop ups, setting up Ortiz’s game-winning base hit.
“She didn’t even start,” said BHS coach Kristen Farrell, as Ortiz entered the game as the designated player in the fourth inning. “Good for her.”
Ortiz singled and scored Burlington’s first run in the fourth on an RBI single by junior Morgan Ryan, singled and scored again in the sixth, walked after a long at-bat in the seventh and then game through in the ninth.
“She’s up (the varsity) because of her bat,” Farrell said. “She’s been going between JV and varsity. I’m like, ‘I guess you get to stay.’ This was her day.”
Senior Cecelia Imbimbo was the winning pitcher for BHS, going all nine innings, allowing four hits while striking out 18. She also had an RBI in Burlington’s fourth-inning rally.
“It was nice to have one of these,” said Farrell of the back-and-forth contest. “Arlington is a good team.”
Fisher was solid on the mound for Arlington as well, striking out 11 Devil batters.
“What a game,” said AHS coach Tom Johnson, in his first year leading the Spy Ponders. “At the end of the year these come back to pay dividends.”
Arlington took its lead in the first when Fisher hit an RBI triple and Nora Vartanian drove in Fisher with a double.
In the sixth, Natalia Fotopoulos hit a leadoff triple and scored on a throwing error to make it 3-2, but the Red Devils answered right away in their half of the sixth when Ortiz reached on an infield hit and eventually scored on a squeeze bunt by Ryan.