Gorham tops Windham in softball quarterfinal playoff

By Matt Pascarella

Windham High’s varsity softball showed marked improvement since the regular season during its quarterfinal playoff game against Gorham at Gorham High School on Friday, June 12. Windham lost 6-3 despite a final push in the top of the seventh inning.

Windham senior Addison Caiazzo gets a hit early on in the
softball quarterfinals playoff game against Gorham at 
Gorham High School on Friday, June 12.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA  

Windham scored early in the first inning, but Gorham put more runs on the scoreboard in the first and second innings to give them a substantial lead. The Eagles’ defense held back the Rams and kept them scoreless for the remainder of the game, but it wasn’t enough.

“We didn’t start the game where we wanted to, seven walks in the first two innings really hurt us,” said Windham varsity softball coach Darcey Gardiner. “Obviously, you saw the adjustment we made in innings three through seven. There might have been a touch of nerves there, but it was nice to see how well we settled down towards the end of the game. What this team knew more than anything in that seventh inning is there’s no pressure on us; all the pressure is on Gorham and can we put the ball in play to put the pressure on their defense? Our pitching staff this year did phenomenal for us, and they gave us all they could and that’s all we could ask.”

Senior Addison Caiazzo got the game going when she belted a triple to left field. A walk and a hit later, and Caiazzo scored.

Windham gave up four runs in the first inning and another two runs in the second inning but held Gorham there for the remainder of the game.

The third inning yielded a double from Caiazzo, and sophomore Yani Kostopoulos walked. Senior Nola Bryant singled on a pop fly and Caiazzo crossed home plate.

“We really wanted to focus on our energy and our pregame warmup just because we were the underdogs ... we had nothing to lose,” said Bryant. “I saw the effort the girls were putting in around me and ... I think the girls were giving everything they had. We didn’t come out as strong in the first few innings, we threw the ball around for a second, once we got into the third (inning) we had multiple shutdown innings; if we came out stronger, we would have been in a better place. What stands out (about this season) is how bounded our team was and the energy we brought, every practice we had such a fun time. We didn’t want to feel the pressure from last year. We did a really good job (this game) with our at-bats; even if it was a strikeout, it was still a successful at-bat. And even when we would ground out or fly out, we were still moving runners on base.”

The Eagles’ defense was strong and kept the Rams scoreless for three innings.

Junior Abhilasha Jain singled in the seventh inning. Caiazzo doubled. Kostopoulos was intentionally walked. Bryant popped up a sacrifice fly and Jain scored.

"We were really locked in, we were feeling good ... we were coming in as the underdogs,” said Caiazzo. “The first inning we were not defensively where we needed to be, and we kind of knew that. Throughout the game, Gorham didn’t score again, we put some runs on the board. I’m really glad so many of the 2026 class went through the (softball) program (from such a young age). One thing we did really well this game with was talking with each other ... and we always keep the energy up, even when there are rough times, like today, we made it a point to keep our energy up. Coach Darcey really instills in us being there for each other instead of yourself, which has led to our success in the past and this year.” <