NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- Kristin (Paryzch) Hildabrand hit a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh to drive in Britt Malloy and give Whitman’s Crystal Clean a 9-8 win in the championship game of the Pat Torchia Softball League on Tuesday.

 

Whitman’s survived a back-and-forth contest with Pizza House to win the league title series, 2-1, after dropping the first game last week.

 

Two fielding miscues set the stage for Hildabrand’s game-winning single. Malloy reached on an error to start the inning, and after Pizza House’s Jenn Choquette got the second hitter to fly out, Krystal Poulen reached on an error and moved Malloy into scoring position.

 

Hildabrand, who went 2-for-3 with two sacrifice flies, delivered her third RBI of the evening to send the teams home before darkness descended on DiSanti Field.

 

Each team managed to put up a couple of runs in the first two innings.

 

Pizza House got on the board with Kate Haring’s RBI single in the first and Sarah Rougeau’s RBI groundout in the second.

 

In between, Serena Stimpson hit an RBI single and scored a run in Whitman’s two-run first.

 

Pizza House went ahead with four in the top of the fourth. Rougeau (3-for-4) doubled and Robin Finnegan tripled to help give their team a 6-2 lead.

 

But that margin did not last long. In the bottom of the frame, Poulen plated a pair with a triple to right, and Hildabrand’s sac fly brought her home to make it 6-5.

 

Whitman’s grabbed an 8-6 lead one inning later after Morgan Shafer, Melissa Girard and Taylor Kenyon started the inning with three straight singles.

 

In the top of the sixth, Leah Thompson drive in a run with a single up the middle, and Morgan Kierstead worked a bases-loaded walk to tie the game and set the stage for Hildabrand’s heroics.

 

Girard earned the win in the circle for Whitman’s.

 

More photos of this game here.