Newburgh Free Academy girls rally late to beat Monroe-Woodbury 5-4
Newburgh erased a late deficit and walked off Monroe-Woodbury 5-4, a finish that could sharpen confidence before Section 9 play.
Newburgh Free Academy had one of those finishes that can travel with a team into the postseason: a 5-4 walk-off over Monroe-Woodbury at Newburgh Free Academy North that turned a quiet afternoon into a late statement.
The Goldbacks, playing their Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I finale on Wednesday, May 27, trailed most of the way and had scored only once through six innings. Ashlyn Leclair’s sacrifice fly accounted for that first run, but Newburgh needed a bigger response before the home field could matter.
It came in the bottom of the seventh. Mia Rummel reached on an error to start the rally, and courtesy runner Arianna Cintron moved ahead on a stolen base and a single by Samantha Williams. Parker Mullarkey followed with a hard-hit ball that helped bring in a run, Leclair added an RBI single, and Madison Gravel singled into right field as Newburgh strung together three runs to tie it at 4-4.
The game was settled in the eighth when the winning run came home on an unusual sequence in the Monroe-Woodbury outfield. A fly ball dropped after bouncing off center fielder Sayla Milligan’s glove and rolled behind her, then a wide throw from third base compounded the misplay and allowed the decisive run to score without a play at the plate.
Coach Edwin Quezada said the program prides itself on fighting through all seven innings, and the Goldbacks showed exactly that after being held in check for most of the game. The finish mattered not just because it beat a familiar Orange County rival, but because it gave Newburgh a surge of confidence heading into Section 9 Class AAA play.
That postseason bracket was already waiting on the schedule beneath the game report, with the Section 9 Class AAA finals set for Friday, May 29, at Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh. Newburgh entered the spring as a younger team, after a March 25 preseason report noted the Goldbacks were replacing 15 seniors from last year’s Section 9 Class AAA finalists. Against that backdrop, a comeback over Monroe-Woodbury carried extra weight.
The rivalry has also been tight before. Monroe-Woodbury beat Newburgh 6-4 on May 21, 2025, after the Goldbacks rallied late but fell short. This time, Newburgh finished the job, and the walk-off at Newburgh Free Academy North gave the Goldbacks the kind of late-season edge that can reshape how a team feels about itself when the bracket arrives.
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