Bromfield’s feisty softball players lost to the Rising Tide Charter Herons 6-3 in extra innings last Sunday, June 1, in round 1 of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Division 5 softball state tournament. The loss ended Bromfield’s return to varsity competition for the first time in six years, with a season record strong enough to earn the team a spot in this year’s playoffs.
No. 35 seed Herons traveled from Plymouth to Harvard to face the Trojans on their home field at Ann Lees Road. It was a chilly and drizzly afternoon. Parents and fans gathered under canopies or personal umbrellas, but the field itself was in good shape in spite of days of rain earlier in the week.
Eighth-grader Bianca Bazarnick winds up for a pitch in her seven and one-third inning time on the mound where she struck out 15 batters. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
The game was a pitcher’s battle from start to finish. Eighth-grader Bianca Bazarnick took the loss, throwing 124 pitches over seven and one-third innings, giving up 6 runs (4 earned) on 3 hits, striking out 15 and walking six. She was relieved in the eighth inning by ninth-grader Aven Overmiller. Rising Tide’s junior Alanna Flanders earned the win, surrendering 3 hits and 3 runs over eight innings, striking out 14 and walking six.
Bromfield junior Audrey Slavin led the scoring with 2 runs batted in. Slavin, eighth-grader Reagan Hodson, and junior Tess Dirstine each had 1 hit.
Bromfield pressured the Herons early, scoring first in the second inning on a single by Hodson that drove in junior Sophia Pierce. Pierce had stolen her way to third base after earning a base on balls. A single by Slavin in the third inning extended the Trojans’ lead to 3-0. The team showed patience at the plate, drawing 6 walks, and players were aggressive on the base paths, accumulating eight stolen bases.
Rising Tide scored 1 run in the fourth inning and then in the team’s last at-bat in the seventh, they scored 2 runs to tie the game on a mix of hits and errors. In the top of the eighth, Rising Tide broke up the tie with a single that scored 2 runs, followed by another error that extended their lead to 6-3, which was unanswered in the bottom of the eighth inning, sealing their come-from-behind victory.
Isabel Pierce makes the play at third base tagging out a Rising Tide Charter School runner.
“We got better as the year went on,” Coach Matt Benway told the Press following the game. “We overachieved. We played a tough schedule, which put us in the state tournament. We competed in this game, and we have a lot of young players, and next year we’ll have a lot of seniors on the team as well. So the future is looking really good.”
Three team members were honored by the Midland Wachusett League. Graduating senior captain Hannah Murphy was named the 2025 Academic Award Winner; sophomore Sophia Pierce and eighth-grader Bianca Bazarnick were named 2025 Second Team All-Stars.
Pierce finished the season hitting for a .353 batting average and .931 OPS (on base plus slugging) in 59 plate appearances. Bazarnick pitched for a 2.73 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 85 innings. “On base plus slugging” describes a batter’s ability to get on base and to hit for power (multiple bases per hit). “Anything above .850 is extraordinary,” softball parent and Harvard Youth Baseball and Softball Association officer Toby Bazarnick explained in an email to the Press.
