JOHNSTON – The pressure that comes with now or never seems to suit Haley Boudreau.
Johnston’s senior pitcher has been dominant and outwardly carefree in her most important outings of her final softball season. Friday afternoon was no exception.
Boudreau controlled a dangerous Portsmouth offense and bought her own hitters time to jump in front. The Panthers did all their scoring in the bottom of the third inning, enough support for Boudreau to author a 3-1 victory at Wood Lake Park.
Alanna Colon’s run-scoring triple and Bella Boudreau’s infield out gave Johnston what it needed to reach the Division II winner’s bracket final. Savannah Paquin added a bases-loaded walk to hand the Panthers a three-run cushion, and Boudreau allowed just a Lilly Morgado solo homer with two outs in the top of the sixth.
“Right away, the first inning, I felt like I was throwing good,” Boudreau said. “I had so much confidence after that. I say it over and over again – it’s confidence in that first inning.”
Lincoln awaits in a scheduled 3 p.m. first pitch Sunday at Rhode Island College, and the winner will be sitting pretty in the double-elimination format. Johnston reached title rounds in 2002 and 2004 but hasn’t been back in more than two decades, a target for Boudreau throughout her strong career to date. The Panthers pinned a lone defeat on the Lions during the regular season, part of what is now a five-game winning streak.
“We want to go into it with a lot of confidence and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to go beat them again,’” Colon said. “We’re going to go into this game with a lot of confidence.”
The Patriots managed just a Mia Ruggieri single in the second and a Josephine Rainey walk in the third during their first trip through the order. That left the door open for the Panthers to strike, and they capitalized when Mariah Fleury beat out an infield single in the third. She took second on a wild pitch and cruised home when Colon sent one to deep right that gave the hosts a 1-0 edge.
“I just caught it on the right part of the bat,” Colon said. “Happened to catch a triple on the right day.”
Bella Boudreau’s grounder to the right side chased in Colon before Johnston started fresh with two outs. Samaya Imondi and Kendall Duguay both singled, Melissa Aria drew a walk and Paquin followed with another to force home Imondi and make it 3-0. The Panthers had just one more batter reach safely over the next three frames, but the damage was done.
“We have a lot of faith in [Boudreau],” Colon said. “Let’s get a few runs and we should be good.”
It was Boudreau’s game from there, and she retired 10 straight before Morgado laced the first pitch she saw to deep left-center with two outs in the sixth. Boudreau got right back on track with a harmless pop back to the circle and worked around a one-out error in the seventh, finishing with the last three of her 11 strikeouts. It was her lone assignment of the day – Boudreau is done with her classwork and awaiting formal graduation ceremonies.
“I was worried about the game all day long,” Boudreau said. “But we pulled through.”
Johnston (16-3) posted a 3-1 win over Lincoln on May 18 and will be looking for the same in the rematch. A loss will force a three-game winning streak to claim the championship – the route is now even longer for Portsmouth (13-6), which faces East Greenwich next in an elimination game. Boudreau was looking forward to an extra day of rest thanks to an announced Saturday postponement due to expected inclement weather.
“We’ve been practicing really hard, especially this week,” Colon said. “We knew this was a big game, and we know we have a big game coming up after this.”
Portsmouth 000 001 0 – 1 2 2
Johnston 003 000 x – 3 6 1
Mia Ruggieri and Barbara Rainey. Haley Boudreau and Bella Boudreau. HR – Lilly Morgado (P).
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Johnston softball advances to D-II final with 3-1 win over Portsmouth