St. Joseph High School softball outlasts Brookfield in CIAC Class L quarterfinals
BROOKFIELD — St. Joseph softball has been no stranger to pressure.
The FCIAC champions and No. 5 ranked team in the GametimeCT softball poll won their conference title via a 14th inning walk-off, and won their CIAC Class L game against Jonathan Law in walk-off fashion as well.
It was a similar story on Friday as the No. 5 seeded Cadets scored all of its runs in the seventh inning to defeat No. 4 Brookfield 4-0.
"We have had games like this throughout the season and these kids have grown up and matured a lot," St. Joseph coach Jeff Babineau said. "I think they feel that they can really handle the pressure and I felt they really used all 21 outs today."
St. Joseph ace Katie Dzialo was dominant in the circle, tossing a three-hit shutout with no walks while striking out eight batters.
"Katie has gotten better all year." Babineau said. "She is really spotting her pitches quite well, and as a coach calling pitches for her, it is awesome. It makes my life easy."
Brookfield ace Sydney Miller matched Dzialo through the first six innings, but St. Joseph was finally able to get to her in the top of the seventh.
The rally began with a one-out single by center fielder Maken Hawkins (who delivered the walk-off single in the second round and had two of St. Joseph's three hits against Brookfield). After a second out, St. Joseph loaded the bases with back-to-back walks.
Hawkins proceeded to score on a wild pitch for the first run of the game, before another walk reloaded the bases. A pair of Brookfield errors then allowed St. Joseph to score three more runs.
"We got one run and I was thinking 'this is not over'," Babineau said. "Brookfield is a really solid program, but once we got four I felt a little relief."
Miller finished with seven strikeouts and just one earned run allowed on three hits and four walks, but it was enough to send St. Joseph to the Class L semifinals for a second year in a row.
"It takes heart, we have been through a lot and we've had some ups and downs," Dzialo said. "We've had some not so good games. Against Law (in the second round) we did not have a great game, but we pulled it out. We definitely have the heart and we want this really bad."
St. Joseph last won a CIAC title in 2018, when it defeated Griswold 5-2 in Class M. Its last final appearance came in Class L during the 2021 season, ending with a 2-0 loss to Masuk.
Last year its tournament run was ended by Ellington, 3-0 in the semifinal.
"We fell short last year and these kids set a goal to get back there, but not have the same result," Babineau said. "We will see what happens and who we are going to play."
St. Joseph will face the winner of No. 1 Masuk and No. 9 E.O. Smith next.
Brookfield (20-5) sees its season come to an end, a year in which it reached the SWC championship game and was ranked within the Top 10 multiple weeks.
"I think that this group has a lot of heart. We had two seniors this year who have been leaders for four years and a lot of talented underclassmen. This was the most memorable season in my time here, seeing these kids work so hard and come together," Brookfield coach Alyssa Lionetti said. "Definitely not the way we wanted it to end, but I love to lose to a respectable team. It just fell apart in the seventh inning and we couldn't get it done. We beat ourselves, but we are going to come back next year strong and ready to go."
Player of the Game
Katie Dzialo, St. Joseph: Threw a complete game shutout, allowing just three hits and no walks while striking out eight.
Quotable
"We fell short last year and these kids set a goal to get back there, but not have the same result. We will see what happens and who we are going to play." - St. Joseph coach Jeff Babineau
St. Joseph 4, Brookfield 0
ST. JOSEPH 000 000 4 — 4 3 0
BROOKFIELD 000 000 0 — 0 3 4
Batteries: B - Sydney Miller (L) and Sam Aurrichio. S - Katie Dzialo (W) and Kelsea Flanagan.
Records: B (20-5), S (23-3)
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