BRANDON — The No. 2 Otter Valley Union High School softball team rallied for the third straight playoff game on Tuesday to edge No. 6 U-32, 11-10, and earn a date in the Division II final against No. 1 Mount Abraham.
The 15-4 Otters and 14-4 Eagles will play for the title at 4:15 p.m. on Friday at Castleton University. The Otters defeated Mount Abe, 4-1, in Brandon when the teams met in the regular season. The Otters will be seeking the program’s fifth D-II title and first since 2014.
To get to the final OV had to overcome deficits of 10-3 in the fifth inning and 10-5 in the sixth.
U-32 scored four in the second on two singles, a costly OV miscue and an Allie Guthrie two-run double. Jayden Pope’s RBI triple made it 4-1 after two; a Brianna Rich double and a sac fly made it 5-1 in the third. OV scored two in the third to make it 5-3 on a walk, a hit batter, two wild pitches and Josie Cone’s sac fly.
But in the fourth the 9-7 Raiders apparently took charge with five runs on four hits off winning pitcher Morgan LaPorte.
But OV chipped away, eventually scoring four unearned runs in the sixth without a hit to make it 10-9, while the OV defense helped LaPorte shut down the Raiders.
In the seventh Pope singled, Shayla Phillips was hit by a pitch, and Bella Falco moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt. Mia Politano singled home Pope, and Phillips scored the winning run on Livia Bernhard’s infield hit.