Softball: Cuchran, Clifton make sure Montini finishes off Fenwick

Montini knows how to close out a softball game.

Nikki Cuchran added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning with an opposite-field home run to the bleachers beyond the left-field fence, and winning pitcher Bri Clifton needed just four seventh-inning pitches to get three groundball outs and end Wednesday's Class 3A St. Francis sectional semifinal.

Montini won 5-3 to advance to the sectional final at 11 a.m. Saturday against St. Francis.

"I came out so aggressive, so pumped," Clifton (18-6), a junior, said of the seventh inning. "Everyone was so ecstatic because we were up 2 runs. It really helped fuel the fire."

Being in a close game is nothing new to the Broncos (26-7).

"We really pulled through, and we've come from behind a lot, and it just shows how much heart we have for the game," Clifton said.

Fenwick struck first, scoring an unearned run in the third inning when Giselle Diaz's sacrifice fly scored Rachel Martinez from third.

"Fenwick was a tough team," Clifton said. "They really came to play, so we really had to come out hard into this game. It was a tough competition. We knew they weren't going to go down without a fight."

Neither were the Broncos. They tied the score in the bottom of the inning when Clifton's single scored pinch-runner Mady Ranski, on for Cuchran, from second base.

The Broncos took a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning when they batted around. Lauren Latoria scored on Sam Ferruzza's single to left center. Ferruzza and Alyssa Filkowski came in on Naomi Alonzo's single.

Fenwick tightened the game with 2 runs in the top of the fifth, but the Friars never could catch up to the Broncos.

Clifton struck out six and walked just one in the complete game. The win is her 40th in her two varsity seasons.

"She's been there," Montini coach Mike Bukovsky said. "Bri is a competitor and she's gotten so much better over the last two years with that. This year we've been in some tighter games and been tested a little more, so she's really had to dig down deep a few more times and she's done that. I'm really proud of her."

The victory sets up a meeting between second-seeded Montini and No. 1 St. Francis (33-4). The two schools are natural rivals, but they haven't met on the softball field in three years.

"I feel pretty confident in our team," Clifton said. "I know we're going to be putting up a fight and putting it all out there."