Ellington Cruises Into Second Round Of Softball Tournament

Rachel Tshonas scattered five hits and helped herself at the plate with a huge two-run home run during a nine-run third inning that propelled Ellington past Plainfield 17-2 in the opening round of the Class M softball tournament Tuesday.

The Knights scored two runs in the first and one in the second before erupting with nine hits, including eight in succession, in the decisive third frame.

Highlights of the inning included a run-scoring double by Arianna DiCioccio, a two-run double by Bri DeLand and Tshonas' homer over the center field fence.

"A couple of our girls have really hit for a lot of power, but today they got some nice singles and doubles, and kept the line moving," Ellington coach Tom Gordon said.

Every Knights starter collected at least one hit off Fairfield pitcher Keri Lehtonen. Danielle Pare led the attack with four hits and four runs batted in, DeLand knocked in three runs and Sam Anthony scored four times. Anthony, DiCioccio, DeLand, Nikki Foote and Cassie Holmes each had two hits for Ellington.

Sydney Meyers and Abby Horan each had a hit and a run scored for the Panthers.

The Knights defense turned in a couple of gems, with a 4-6-3 double play and a sliding tag play at the plate in which a Plainfield runner was tagged out.

Eighth-seeded Ellington will host the Winner of Wednesday's Platt Tech/Montville game Thursday at 4 p.m.