Almost two weeks ago, the Rockport Bandits won a hard-fought battle against the Riverdale Rockets 1 to claim the Cape Ann Girls Fast Pitch Softball League A level championship.

In the first game of the best-of-three finals, the Rockets used some timely hitting and solid defense to beat the Bandits 12-7. The Bandits came back to win Game 2 by a score of 14-10, with the Bandits bats making the difference. The final and deciding game three looked to be all Rockets as they took a 6-1 lead late into the game. The Bandits, however, rose to the surface once again as they clawed their way back into the game with a single run in the fifth and two more in the bottom of the sixth.

The scored remained 6-4 entering the final frame. The Bandits held the Rockets scoreless in the top of the seventh.

Hannah Rowe led off the bottom of the seventh for the Bandits with a line drive single up the middle. Mollie Watson followed with a sharp triple to the opposite field, plating Rowe with the Bandits fifth run. The rally continued with walks to Alexandra Paradis and Gabrielle Muniz. Kayla Parisi, one of the heroes of Game 2, came to the plate with the winning run only 120 feet away. She calmly laced a single up the middle scoring Watson from third as Paradis raced around from second to score the winning run.

The final score of 7-6 was truly an indication of just how close and well played the game was, by both teams.