Litchfield, making its first semifinal appearance in school history, will play either No. 4 St. Paul Catholic or No. 5 Coginchaug Wednesday night at 7 at West Haven High School. The St. Paul Catholic-Coginchaug game will take place today.

The game-changing triple play came when Laura Lowther lined to second with the bases loaded. Second baseman Destinee Meeker threw the ball to shortstop Devan Meeker at second trying to double-up base-runner Hannah Hartz, but the throw was not in time. While that was going on, Jamie Romano, on third base, took off for home and beat the throw to the plate from Devan Meeker. Hartz then tried for third and was thrown out by the catcher, Emily Nalband. Third baseman Michelle Simaitis then threw behind Kim Santa Maria at first base and caught her before she got back to the bag.

"It definitely turned the game around," Litchfield head coach Stephanie Sorak said. "We needed something good on ‘D’ to happen. It turned out something exceptional happened. When the girls came back to the dugout they were all fired up and we took off from there."

"When the triple play happened we all got excited and started to believe in each other," added pitcher Hannah Dwan, the beneficiary of the wild sequence. "We were nervous and it helped settle us down."

Litchfield pulled to within two at 3-1 in the fourth when Nalband doubled, moved to third on a groundout by Megan O’Leary and scored on a wild pitch.

In the fifth, the Cowgirls (17-6) put the game away. Simaitis drove in a run with an infield single and Nalband put Litchfield ahead, 4-3, on a booming two-run triple to left. Nalband scored the fifth Litchfield run on an error and the Cowgirls added another run on Devan Meeker’s bunt in the sixth.

"I wanted to win so bad," said Nalband, a junior. "Even when I had two strikes, I said to myself that I would hit the ball and we’ll win the game. I was not going to walk away looking at the third strike.

Dwan struggled early, allowing two runs in the first on an RBI single by Santa Maria and another on an error. She settled down, though, allowing two earned runs, while striking out five and walking one in a complete game effort.

"I was a little worried when we fell behind," admitted Dwan. "It’s hard to get over your nerves sometimes. There was so much pressure and I had to calm down. As the game went along, I felt OK and was able to hit my spots."

It was a game of missed chances for the Golden Bears (13-10), as they scored only three runs on 10 hits and left nine runners on base. Hartz, Santa Maria, Lindsay Stadalnik and Sara Sanford all had two hits for Thomaston.

"We let a lot of opportunities go by," said Thomaston head coach Bev Lowden, who coached her last game after 38 years on the job. "I’m very proud of this team, though. A lot of people had us pegged not to make the tournament after losing six starters (from last year’s state finalist). They played their hearts out and I couldn’t be happier of them."

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