Tolland Pulls Off Fifth Inning Rally to Defeat Rockville

The Tolland High softball team upset Rockville 4-1 on Tuesday marking possibly it's "biggest win" of the season in what was described as a pitcher's duel.

"Rockville is a very good team, very difficult to beat," Tolland Coach Tom Drury said after the game. "It is a very big win for us. To beat someone like them you have to put your best game forward."

The game didn't start off so great for Tolland, though. Rockville senior Brianna Levick started the game with a triple, eventually scored on with a sacrifice bunt. But after that, Tolland starting pitcher Jess Olson, who finished the game, settled down and struck out the next three batters and the Rams struggled to get in any more runs.

"She's a heady player, very good," Drury said of Olson.

Then the hits started coming. Tolland's Alison Whitlock had a double in the third and then Tolland’s Kelsey Lewis, who went 1-for-3 in the game, had a huge two-RBI hit in the fifth inning to break the game open for the Eagles. Sam Olson and Britt DeCarli also had key hits in the fifth inning to give the lead to Tolland.

Rockville starting pitcher Kaitlyn Lajoie pitched all seven innings and only allowed four hits while striking out nine. Olson got the win for Tolland as she only allowed six hits and struck out seven while more importantly held the high powered Rockville team to only one run.

"Going against Kaitlyn Lajoie is tough. She's a good pitcher. Our kids were just able to get the bat on the ball today," Drury said.

Tolland next plays at home on today (Wednesday) at 3:45 p.m. and then finishes the regular season with a split double header on Thursday. Rockville will play at Hartford Public on today (Wednesday) at 3:45 p.m. Both teams have made the post-season tournament.