RI is off to the Little League Softball regional title game; here’s how they did it

BRISTOL, Conn. — Cranston Western Little League Softball was down to its last six outs.

The Rhode Island team stomped its way through the New England Regional tournament until Massachusetts carried a lead into the fifth inning of the winner’s bracket final on Wednesday night. But this Ocean State team is making waves this summer and has something to prove.

Rhode Island commandeered a lead in the bottom half of the frame on Alexa Okolowitcz’s blistering line-drive double that capped a stunning comeback. Cranston Western closed the door on Massachusetts returning the favor and walked away with a 6-5 win and a spot in Friday’s winner-take-all championship at A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Training Center in Bristol, Connecticut.

“It feels really good just knowing that was the game-winning hit,” Okolowitcz said. “Our team did a really good job with rallying in the dugout and that really got me motivated to go out there and just hit and do my best.”

Okolowitcz’s double, with two outs, was nearly snagged by the Massachusetts’ shortstop, but the two-hole hitter found the gap and scored Isabella Marcano from first. Okolowitcz’s winner was the biggest hit of the game – and of the season to date – but Rhode Island’s four-run fifth inning was a team effort.

The Ocean State, stocked with 11- and 12-year-old all-stars, sent eight batters to the plate in the decisive fifth frame. As the rally started to swell, there was a feeling of a special night in the making for the Rhode Island fans in attendance. Laila Murphy, in the eight-hole, started the rally by looping a single into left field and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Lylah Riley returned with a bunt back to the circle that went for a hit and RI had runners on the corners.

“I think as a team, we just started a rally,” Marcano said. “I think that once one person does something to get us all going, I think we just all follow.”

How they got there: Cranston Western does what it does best and earns Little League softball state title

Rhode Island plated its first two runs on Audriana Garcia’s sacrifice bunt. Garcia reached on an error to keep Cranston Western unscathed in the frame as they trailed just 5-4. Then with one out in the stanza, Juliana Borges, out of the 12-hole, laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Garcia to third and sent the lineup back to the top of the order.

And from there, Marcano and Okolowitcz took care of business with a single up-the-middle to knot the game and then Okolowitcz ended it on the first pitch of her at-bat.

“This week has been something that I never would have imagined would have happened, especially us making it this far,” Marcano said.

“I just appreciate [friends and family] and them watching because it is important,” Okolowitcz said. “And their support has been really big to our team and we’re very grateful for that.”

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Massachusetts scored a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings to recover from a 2-1 deficit after the first. But Marcano, who picked up the win and went 3-for-3 at the plate, sat them down in order in the fifth to stage the rally.

Rhode Island awaits the winner of Massachusetts and Connecticut in Thursday’s losers’ bracket final before playing on Friday at noon in Bristol. The championship game will be nationally televised on ESPN.

“Everybody put a little bit into it,” Rhode Island coach, Lalo Marcano said of the comeback. “Once the hits came together, the pitching came together, defense came together, it was an all-team effort and I love that. It was not just one or two, it was everybody that made this win happen.”

Rhode Island at New England Regionals

Sunday, July 21: Rhode Island 13, Connecticut 3.

Monday, July 22: Rhode Island 11, Maine 0.

Wednesday, July 24: Rhode Island 6, Massachusetts 5.

jrousseau@providencejournal.com

On X: @ByJacobRousseau