By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – With the Bristol Eastern and North Haven softball squads embattled in a 3-3 stalemate going into the bottom of the final inning of its CIAC Class L, first round showdown, which standout from the Kingstreeters was going to tally the game-winning hit?

After setting up the table in the seventh, Eastern’s Jasmine Perez was once again at the plate with ducks on the pond.

Would she generate the game-winning hit? Would it be time for Perez to shine once again for the Eastern softball program?

It was a resounding yes to both questions as Perez took the first pitch she saw over the fence in right-center field as the walk- off, three-run home run propelled No. 15 Bristol Eastern to a 6-3 win over No. 18 North Haven on Tuesday. 

The Lancers, now a sterling 14-6, earned a shot at No. 2 St. Joseph on Wednesday in second round play.

The Cadets went undefeated (16-0) in regular season play, earned a first-round bye, and currently at 19-1, St. Joseph is ranked fourth in the most recent The GameTimeCT Top 10 Softball Poll.

But yesterday, Eastern had contributions from all over the field and at the plate to topple North Haven.

Perez was sensational, going 3-of-4 with four RBI along with the home run.

Pitcher Ali Tellier was also 3-for-4, Jazmyn Browne went 2-for-3 with an RBI while Grace D’Amato and Alex Shorette were both 1-of-3 as the Lancers tallied 10 total hits for the game.

Defensively, Eastern kept the mistakes to a minimum.

“Jazmyn and Jasmine locked it down defensively behind Ali,” said Eastern coach Scott Redman via Twitter.

The visitors threatened in the top of the first inning, putting two on with just one out but Tellier induced a fielder’s choice ground to Perez at third and the other ball found its way to Browne to end the stanza.

Tellier singled in the first but was unable to come around while in the second stanza, the Lancers went for two runs.

D’Amato blasted out a leadoff double, went to third when Shorette tallied a base hit and tagged the dish on a passed ball to make it a 1-0 game.

From there, Browne kicked in an RBI single to score Shorette as the home team led 2-0 after two completed frames.

Tellier did a fantastic job keeping North Haven batters at bay and through four-and-a-half innings, it was still a 2-0 contest.

In the bottom of the fifth, Eastern scored once again.

Tellier dropped in a base hit, went to second on a Riley Giblin sacrifice bunt, and scored on a single by Perez as the Lancers nabbed a 3-0 push going into the sixth.

However, in the top of the sixth, North Haven was on the move. 

Two bloop singles put the tying run at the plate with no outs as the Indians were a hit away from making it a game.

Caroline Toni then scorched a two-RBI double down left-center, chopping the deficit to 3-2.

An RBI single to right tied the event at 3-3 but the Eastern defense took over from there.

An overthrow at the plate led to a North Haven runner attempting to score from second but Eastern catcher Janessa Gonzalez chased the ball down and flipped to Tellier covering home plate for the out as the go-ahead runner was cut down.

Tellier got out of the spot by inducing a fly ball to right and then added a big strikeout as the game was still a 3-3 affair heading into the seventh. 

An error gave the Indians another go-ahead runner in the top of the seventh but a line out to Browne at shortstop helped force a double play.

Off the catch, Browne fired a dart to first – doubling off the runner to end the inning – as Eastern was looking for late game heroics to nab the victory. 

With one gone in the bottom of the seventh, Tellier got on base for the third time with another single.

Giblin then drew a walk and pushed the winning run to second.

But it didn’t matter as Perez ended the contest with her three-run home run blast as Eastern survived and advanced by a 6-3 final. 

CIAC CLASS L Softball, First Round 

NO. 15 BRISTOL EASTERN 6, NO. 18 NORTH HAVEN 3 (8)

from Bristol Eastern high school

North Haven (11-8)           000 003 0 – 3 6 0

Bristol Eastern (14-6)     020 103 0 – 6 10 2  

WP: Ali Tellier (BE); LP: Olivia Olson (NH) 

North Haven Batting 

2B – Caroline Toni 

3B – None

HR – None

Bristol Eastern Batting 

2B – Grace D’Amato

3B – None

HR – Jasmine Perez

Records: Bristol Eastern 14-6 overall; North Haven 11-8