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Hendricks twins help MSC win season opener |
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Friday, 03 April 2009 |
By ERIC BENEVIDES
Sports writer
WOONSOCKET --- Varsity debuts don’t get any better than the ones Mount St. Charles Academy freshman twin sisters Olivia and Emily turned in on Thursday afternoon.
Olivia, a pitcher, recorded 16 groundball outs en route to a strong four-hitter, and Emily, a shortstop, made a few solid defensive plays and knocked in a run with an infield hit to help the Mounties post a 2-0 triumph over Lincoln High in the Division I season opener for both teams on the MSC campus.
The Mounties, who lost seven starters from last season’s 10-6 squad, including All-State pitcher Kelly Ryan, sport one of the division’s youngest teams this spring and have four sophomores and the Hendricks siblings among its starting nine.
But the Mounties were able to kick off their season on the right foot by scoring unearned runs in the second and fourth innings and squirming out of a pair of bases-loaded threats by the Lions in the third and fourth.
“We lost a lot of players from last year’s team,” added MSC coach Cliff Matthews. “Our practices have been good, but you never know what to expect until you take the field. Our goal every year is to make the playoffs and wins could be hard to come by in the division, so to start off with a ‘W’, we’re very pleased.”
The Lions, who have four sophomores and three juniors in their starting lineup, received an excellent outing from senior pitcher Jessica Borden, who tossed a six-hitter that saw her strike out seven batters and walk two, but three infield errors helped MSC produce its two runs and gave Borden the tough-luck loss.
“I thought Jess pitched very well,” said Lincoln coach Jon Bruckner, whose team went 6-10 during a rebuilding year last spring. “She pitched a fantastic game, but we made a few mistakes behind her and mistakes will hurt you at this level.”
Two of those errors came in the second and helped the Mounties score the only run they needed.
Nicole Silva led off with a base hit to right, and an out later, MSC loaded the bases when Nicole Grinsell’s fielder’s choice grounder was misplayed in the middle of the diamond and Olivia Hendricks was able to leg out a bunt single when catcher Brianna Ferri fielded her bunt, but lost her balance as she looked to throw out Hendricks at first.
Alyssa Lanzi then hit a sharp infield grounder to shortstop Barbara Jackson, who tried to gun down Silva at the plate, but fired the ball just over the head of Ferri.
The bases remained loaded, but Borden bounced back and struck out the next two batters she faced to extinguish the threat.
In the fourth, a walk to Lanzi, a sacrifice bunt by Becky Piette, and an infield miscue on Erica Fletcher’s grounder put runners at second and third for Emily Hendricks. She then tapped a slow roller that Jackson made a great play on and a strong throw to first, but she was unable to nab Hendricks on a close play.
While the Mounties capitalized on their few scoring opportunities, the Lions were unable to do the same and ended up stranding a dozen runners on the afternoon.
In the third, they loaded the bases with one gone on a leadoff single to right by Jackson, an infield error, and a fielder’s choice grounder by Ferri. But Jackson was cut down at the plate when the first baseman, Grinsell, fielded a grounder by Alyssa McCoart and threw her out at the plate, and Olivia Hendricks got the next batter to ground out to second.
In the fourth, Lincoln again loaded the bases with the help of an infield error, a fielder’s choice grounder, and with two outs, a sharp infield hit up the middle by Colleen Moran (that was prevented from going into center field by a diving stab by Emily Hendricks).
But again, Olivia Hendricks got out of the jam by getting Borden, the Lions’ dangerous No. 3 batter, to line out to left fielder Hannah Gardella.
“We struggled a little bit to come up with a big hit to get us over the top,” said Bruckner. “I thought we did a nice job setting the tables a couple of times and putting ourselves in a position to get where we wanted to be, but like I said, we couldn’t get that big hit.”
“We were a little shaky in the first few innings,” added Matthews. “But once the kids got the nervousness out, they settled down and played very well defensively.”
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 19 April 2009 )
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