The Duxbury girls’ softball team closed out its 2008 regular season in dramatic fashion last Thursday afternoon in Duxbury. Unfortunately for the Lady Dragons it was visiting Brockton that supplied all the dramatics.

The Duxbury girls’ softball team closed out its 2008 regular season in dramatic fashion last Thursday afternoon in Duxbury. Unfortunately for the Lady Dragons it was visiting Brockton that supplied all the dramatics.{sidebar id=4}

While the game had no real meaning for the Lady Dragons, whose tournament qualifying record (14-5) does not include games with the Division 1 Boxers, it had significant meaning for Brockton, as they needed one more win to qualify for post-season play.

Jacqui Cronin

What appeared to be a throw-away game for Duxbury, turned into one of the most challenging games of the year, as Duxbury’s Casey Ducinski and Brockton’s Stephanie Ameen were brilliant on the mound.

Duxbury had a great chance to score first when Danielle Antonellis and Grace Kelso walked in the bottom of the second, but Antonellis was thrown out at the plate, as she raced home from second on a single by Robin Rader.

Neither team would generate any serious offense through six innings, as the Boxers broke up Ducinski’s no-hitter in the sixth.

In the bottom of the seventh it looked like Duxbury would pull this one out when Antonellis and Kelso singled. With two outs and runners at second and third after a throwing error, Rader stepped to the plate with a chance to knock home the winning run. She popped to the pitcher, sending the game into extra innings.

Brockton stranded a runner at second in the eighth, and Ducinski made it as far as second base in the bottom of the inning, but once again the game remained scoreless until the Boxers exploded in the ninth.

With one out, Duxbury made a crucial error on an infield grounder putting a runner at first. But Ducinski fanned the next batter and looked like she would escape the inning, only to have Amanda Newell single to right and Michelle Mortimer double to right-center for what proved to be the winning run.

A walk loaded the bases, and consecutive errors cost Duxbury four more runs before Ameen smashed a two-run homer to deep right-center that ended the Brockton assault and gave the visitors a 7-0 victory.

Ducinski struck out 11 batters and allowed just six hits, but her teammates’ bats went silent, as they managed only four hits on the afternoon.

The week wasn’t a total loss, as the Lady Dragons needed one more win to capture a share of the Patriot League-Keenan Division title, and they got it rather easily with a 10-1 win over Randolph. The victory gave Duxbury a piece of the crown with Silver Lake.

Ducinski continued to carry the team at the plate and on the mound, as the junior lefty recorded her 14th win by striking out seven, along with going 3 for 4 at the plate with three RBI and three runs scored.

Senior shortstop Nicole Forlizzi (3 for 4/3 RBI) and senior first baseman Danielle Antonellis (2 for 3/HR) also had big days at the plate in the clincher.{sidebar id=6}