By Kim J. Harmon

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh of the Newtown Women’s Slo-Pitch Softball League ‘B’ Division finals last week, the Special K’s were all set to uncork the champagne and celebrate a championship.

But they forgot to seal the deal and the Fireside Inn rallied back from a one-run deficit to steal a shocking 12-11 win and save the champagne for themselves.

And in the ‘A’ Division finals on Monday night, tre Regazze went searching for revenge against Curtis & Crandon (for handing tre Regazze its only loss of the season) and came up empty as Curtis & Crandon captured the championship with a convincing 8-2 win.

‘B’ Division

After Anna Christopher struck out and Jackie Kulikowski lined out to first, the Fireside Inn was down to its final out against the Special K’s and still looking at a one-run deficit in the bottom of the last inning.

But Sara Frampton walked, Rabiya Ansari reached on an error and Jeanne DiNardo reached on an infield single to load the bases and put the Special K’s celebration on hold. Then Jody Minalgo bounced an infield single to drive in the tying run and Kari Rustici followed with a single up the middle to drive in the winning run and hand the Fireside Inn the title.

The Special K’s had taken a 2-0 in the top of the first inning, but the Fireside Inn answered back with five runs in the bottom of the frame on seven singles, a sacrifice fly and an error. Both teams scored once in the second and the Fireside Inn held on to its 6-3 lead until the top of the fourth inning.

That’s when the Special K’s put together their own five-run rally. A few errors helped the cause, for sure, but Karen Mastrantoni rapped an RBI single and Kim Miner followed with a single that led to two runs and put the Special K’s on top, 8-6. In the bottom of the frame, the Fireside Inn tied the score back up on an RBI single by Katie Barry and a fielder’s choice grounder by Laura Howard.

In the top of the fifth, the Special K’s went back out on top, 11-8, when Sharon Vetrano ripped a three-run homer, but the Fireside answered back with a two-run homer off the back of DiNardo and that one-run deficit held until the bottom of the seventh.

Stacey Gordon of the Special K’s and Nina Ricciardi of the Fireside Inn made the best defensive plays of the game, but it was the Fireside that had enough offensive firepower at the end to pull out the win.

‘A’ Division

Diane Alicea, Ruth Rowe, Carolyn Signorelli and Maggie Jones rapped RBI singles in the top of the fourth inning to break open a 1-1 tie and send Curtis & Crandon on to an 8-2 win over tre Regazze in the ‘A’ Division finals.

The game had originally been scheduled for last Friday and the top of the first inning (with C&C taking a 2-0 lead) was in the books when a thunderstorm forced the game to be rescheduled for Monday night.

C&C took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Signorelli’s fielder’s choice grounder scored Rowe (who had doubled earlier in the inning). Signorelli later attempted to score on a double by Jones, but was gunned down at the plate.

In the bottom of the third, tre Regazze tied the scored when Fawn Schmidt singled up the middle to drive in Brandy Arnold (who had doubled earlier in the frame).

But in the top of the fourth, C&C broke the game wide open.

Patrice Fahey singled to lead off and Lynn Baylis reached on an error. Alicea followed with a run-scoring double and Rowe followed with a run-scoring single. Signorelli and Jones both rapped RBI singles with two outs and gave C&C a 5-1 lead.

That lead held – thanks to some stellar plays by Diane Lawrence in left field and Alicea in left center.

In the top of the sixth, C&C extended its lead to 8-1 on three errors, a sacrifice fly by Signorelli and a fielder’s choice shot to centerfield by Missy Desrochers.

tre Regazze got one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame. Kelly Larnetto ripped a triple to deep left center and then scored – oddly enough – on one of the best defensive plays of the night when Rowe, at shortstop, raced into the outfield to snare a hard hit line drive. Momentum carried Rowe too far out to turn and make a play on Larnetto, who had tagged on the catch and then ran home to score.

Rowe had another stellar play in her glove, though, and made it in the bottom of the seventh. With one out and a runner on first, Rowe snatched a blistering line drive by Arnold to put tre Regazze down to its final out.

And after a single by Schmidt, Erica Masella of C&C recorded that out with on a soft grounder to third.