Lincoln-Sudbury girls keep rolling
SUDBURY — One of two remaining undefeated softball teams in Massachusetts, Lincoln-Sudbury flexed its muscles against Bedford on Wednesday.
The Warriors took advantage of a Bedford team that was missing ace pitcher Alyx Rossi and put up 14 runs in just five innings while Kelsey Blanchard held the Buccaneers to one hit. It all added up to a 14-2 win, the Warriors 18th in as many tries this season.
“This wasn’t the game that we had prepared for,” Warriors coach Devan Rabidou said. “This would have been a pitchers’ duel back and forth if Alyx had played.”
The Warriors (18-0) were never behind on Wednesday as Blanchard retired the first 12 Bedford (15-3) batters in order while her teammates were chipping away against Bedford starter Maddie Thompson.
L-S took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Eliana Krosnow led off with a double. Ashleigh Lent followed with an infield hit and Blanchard flew out to right, scoring Krosnow. Lia Mazzocchi’s groundout brought Lent across from third.
Much of the Warriors damage on this day came deep in counts against Thompson.
“We hit a lot of balls well and deep in counts,” Rabidou said. “It’s good to know that we can change our approach at the plate and still get the job done.”
The lead became 3-0 in the third when Grace Messina walked and Nicole Lent just missed a homer on her double to center. Bedford nearly escaped the fourth unscathed but catcher Sophie Jorjorian doubled home Sarah Danielson with two outs to make it 4-0.
The Warriors delivered the knockout punch in the bottom of the fourth against a tiring Thompson.
Lent singled and scored on a pair of errors. Ashleigh Lent ripped a single two batters later to score Natalie Gaeta for a 6-0 lead. Mazzocchi’s two run single made it 8-0 before Jorjorian and Messina complete the six run onslaught by driving home runs.
All this was going on while Bedford had yet to get a base runner against Blanchette. They finally did so when Lexi Masters walked to begin the top of the fifth.
Mia Vitti ended Blanchette’s no-hit bid with one out before a walk loaded the bases. Annie Rossi drew the third Bedford walk of the inning, plating Masters. Addie Poulter’s infield single scored Vitti to cut the lead to 10-2.
The Warriors, however, put the game on ice in the bottom of the inning by scoring four times to invoke the 12-run rule and end things early.