By Chris Paul
The Londonderry High School Softball squad suffered just its third loss of the season and fell to the third seeded Concord Crimson Tide in the semifinals of the Division I State Championship last week.
After making their way through the first two rounds of the playoffs, as the number three seed of the playoffs, the Lady Lancers headed to Plymouth State University, on Wednesday, June 8, to play the Concord High School contingent where they were beaten by two runs in a 4-2 final.
To that point in the playoffs, Londonderry had amassed an amazing 19 wins over the course of the season and had every reason to feel confident about their chances in the third round game. The LHS squad was riding a 10-game winning streak behind some strong bats and excellent pitching.
In that semifinal game, Londonderry got off to a quick one-run lead in the top of the first, after sophomore starting pitcher Olivia Cutuli hit her third home run of the playoffs.
That 1-0 lead was erased in the bottom of the opening inning with the Concord bats coming out strong.
Four singles and a double from the Crimson Tide’s top of the order put LHS behind 4-1, and despite keeping Concord from scoring for the rest of the game, Londonderry was never able to recover.
Cutuli gave up four of the nine hits in that inning and wound up pitching the entire game after settling down after the first. She had nine strikeouts and only gave up one walk in her 101-pitch final game of the season.
The LHS batters were only able to get to Concords pitcher Maddy Wachter for four hits and two walks. The Concord hurler also struck out 11 Lancer batters.
LHS Senior shortstop Olivia Chau had two of the four hits with a double. Junior Nina Corvino also had a double in the game.
After the win, Concord moved onto the Division I finals where they were beaten 1-0 by Exeter High School, the number one seed in the championships.