Ponaganset's Salvo denies Westerly softball top seed in Division II with walk-off blast

GLOCESTER — Maia Salvo was waiting on the changeup.

Ponaganset softball’s right-handed power hitter went down swinging on the off-speed earlier in the game. Daring to show Salvo the same pitch is a dangerous approach, and in the bottom of the seventh in a tied game, throwing to the junior at all is a gamble.

And Salvo plays with house money.

The Chieftains’ star took the seventh pitch of the game’s final at-bat over the center field fence as Ponaganset downed Westerly 7-6 on the walk-off blast on Tuesday.

After going down 0-2 with two outs, Salvo worked the count full before ending the game with her ninth home run of the season. Ponaganset’s win denied Westerly the top seed in the Division II playoffs in the team’s regular-season finale and locked them into the third slot.

The Chieftains, currently the top team in the league, can finish as high as No. 1, but have to await Johnston’s result on Wednesday against South Kingstown. If the Panthers win, they’ll earn the top seed after beating the Chieftains, 1-0, last week.

“I was ready to see another changeup,” Salvo, who is verbally committed to Marist College, said. “That's what she got me on before, but I was just staying disciplined. Learning to lay off those [other] pitches and just waiting for my one.”

Westerly knotted the contest on a towering solo home run by Ella Keegan in the top half of the seventh. The sophomore cleared the left field fence with ease, but Westerly went on to strand runners on second and third against Chieftains’ starter, Chloe Barber.

Barber tossed a complete game allowing nine hits and five earned runs while striking out seven. Sophia Valentini threw 6 2/3 innings for Westerly with six earned runs on eight hits.

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Ponaganset entered the home half of the sixth trailing, 5-4, but Mia Duncan worked a walk on seven pitches to bring Kyla Angell to the plate. The junior then cracked a two-run shot to center, part of a 2-for-3 day with four RBIs, to put the Chieftains ahead.

“We actually thought it was going into extra innings,” Angell said. “But I think us getting loud, we knew we had to be loud that inning, so I think that really helped us. But honestly, that walk-off was a surprise. We thought we were, with two outs, we thought we were going into extras.

“I haven't hit [a home run] out of the park this season. It's really nice to be coming back and have a really great season. To have my whole family here to see it and get the team excited, that's the best part is to get everybody excited.”

If Johnston wins, and the playoffs play to chalk, the Chieftains and Bulldogs could see each other again in a few weeks. And if Tuesday’s contest, which had four lead changes, is a playoff preview, both teams will be ready.

“I think these types of games come down to who wants it more,” Angell said. “When we play good teams, like Westerly, like Johnston or Portsmouth, it comes down to which dugouts are louder. Who wants it more? Because I think we're all good teams, it's just, you’ve got to want it to win.”

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Westerly surged from a 4-2 deficit in the sixth on Keegan’s double that set the table and Valentini brought her home with a line drive to center for two bases of her own. Emma Caracciolo then hit her second sacrifice fly of the contest to score Alexandra Stoehr, who walked after Keegan’s double, for a 4-4 game.

With two outs in the frame, Tori Gabriele’s RBI-single to right gave Westerly the one-run advantage as Lillian Vetelino crossed home.

But Angell and Salvo’s home runs were the difference in the final two innings.

“It comes with experience, that confidence to be resilient,” Ponaganset coach, Michael Calenda said. “We've battled all year and we've come up battling in the big game. They come up big in the big game.”

jrousseau@providencejournal.com

On X: @ByJacobRousseau

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Salvo, Ponaganset softball soar with walk-off blast vs. Westerly