Alvirne bests Salem for second straight D1 softball championship

MANCHESTER – Taylor Carbone didn’t look like she was pitching in a championship game.

Every time the Alvirne High School senior got the ball back after a pitch, she whipped it into her glove or raised her hand to tell her defense the number of outs. And every time, she did it with a smile.

“This year, I’ve come to learn to enjoy it when I’m out there,” Carbone said. “It’s not life or death and I need to enjoy it.”

Now Carbone and the Broncos can enjoy being two-time champions, as No. 3 Alvirne handed No. 1 Salem its only loss of the season, beating the Blue Devils 5-1 in Saturday’s Division I championship game at Southern New Hampshire University.

Going into the playoffs, the message from coach Sarah Brisk was to play relaxed, and she reemphasized that going into the final.

“When I talked to the girls, I said we were the underdogs and to go in as relaxed as possible,” Brisk said. “I think they really did.”

The Broncos (18-4) were so relaxed, they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, thanks in part to a two-run home run by Chelsey Drew. That cushion kept Alvirne from panicking when Salem got a run back in the bottom of the first, and allowed Carbone to cruise through the next five innings.

After giving up that run in the first, Carbone retired 15 of the 17 batters she faced from the second through the sixth. The only runners the Devils (22-1) during that stretch came on a third-inning walk by pitcher Nicole Gubellini and a single by Gubellini in the sixth.

“They’re a tough team and I know I’m not going to strike them all out,” Carbone said. “I tried to use a lot of low drops and a change of speeds to keep them off balance. I especially, for their big hitters, I tried to not bring it up at all. I tried to keep them hitting ground balls.”

Carbone finished with three strikeouts while giving up a run on five hits and a walk in seven innings.

“I think she moved the ball around,” Brisk said. “She learned from the last time we played them. She mixed it up, she changed speeds and it really made the difference. She’s a smart pitcher and she knew what she had to do to get the job done.”

While Carbone was stifling the Devils, Gubellini managed to keep the Broncos off the board. Alvirne had a base runner in every inning, but Gubellini scattered 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out three and walking one.

But in the top of the seventh, Salem’s luck ran out. With one out, a pitch from Gubellini came inside on Alvirne’s Jess Underwood, and as she tried to get out of the way, the ball struck her bat and rolled in front of the plate. No Salem player could get to the ball before Underwood reached first.

Kaycee Carbone, who was 2 for 3 and scored two runs, followed with a single and Mikayla Powlowsky walked to load the bases. Kaitlyn Aesenault came on in relief of Gubellini, but Jenna Giannelli singled to score Underwood and Kaycee Carbone to make it 5-1.

“It was an extra cushion and it made me even more relaxed,” Taylor Carbone said. “We still needed to get three outs.”

Salem’s Samantha Cloutier led off the inning with a single, but Carbone got two popups to first base for two outs. An error allowed Amanda Bickford to reach safely and Cloutier advanced to third on the play.

But Carbone got Sarah Frahm to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

“It’s awesome,” Carbone said of winning back-to-back titles. “I couldn’t have done it without the girls behind me, supporting me on the field and off the field. I’m really excited and honored. It’s very special.”

For Brisk, who is in her first year as the Broncos’ coach, it was the completion of a goal she set as a player for Alvirne in the mid-1990s.

“I played here four years and we never had a chance to win,” she said. “It was heartbreaking every year to make it to the quarters or make it to the semis. To be able to come back, it’s just a great feeling, especially to do it for my high school.”