Lee Cruises into Sweet 16
LEE, Mass. – Bri Lynch struck out 16 hitters, and the Lee softball team scored early and often en route to a 7-1 win over Springfielder International Charter on Monday in the Division 5 State Tournament.
The 11th-seeded Wildcats (17-3) move into the Round of 16, where they will face No. 6 West Boylston on Wednesday. The Lions (16-5) Monday beat Westport, 6-5,
Lynch Monday was dominant through six innings, retiring the Bulldogs in order five times and allowing just one baserunner, on a two-out bloop single in the second.
Her offense, meanwhile, gave her two runs in the first and three in the second to take a 5-0 lead.
“We finally started hitting again,” said Lee coach Steven Bannon, whose team scored six runs in its previous three games.
“We were facing good pitching, but we didn’t put the bat on the ball really well. So we worked on it the last couple of days in practice, and we put a lot of balls in play today. It worked. Good to see it work."
The Wildcats scored their first two runs with two out in the first.
Lynch reached on a fielder’s choice, and courtesy runner Devyn Fillio moved up on a wild pitch before scoring on Karalynn Hopkins’ single to left.
Hopkins stole second and ended up scoring from third on Lily Brancato’s infield single to make it 2-0.
In the third inning, Lee scored three runs on just one hit, taking advantage of four walks in the inning.
Bannon said his squad did a good job being selective against a SICS hurler who had some control problems at times.
“That’s just what we’ve been talking about all year,” he said. “Our motto is: Good swings at good pitches. If it’s not there, if it’s not a driveable pitch, leave it and wait for your drivable pitch.
“They did a great job [at pitch selection]. Even the misses just missed them. You’re not going to hit them all.”
Brooke Delaguistina hit all of a pitch she saw in the bottom of the third, driving it into the right-center gap and racing around the bases for an inside-the-park solo home run that made it 6-0.
In the sixth, Lee tacked on another run when Taryn Bannon hit a one out single, moved up on a ground ball out and scored on a wild pitch and an errant throw to third.
The Bulldogs got on the board one inning later.
An error and a pitch that got to the backstop put a runner in scoring position, and Juliette Ruiz’s single up the middle looked to give her team its first run. But Hopkins threw a rope to Brancato at the plate, and Brancato put the tag on the runner to keep it a 7-0 game.
But the throw also allowed Ruiz to get to second, and two batters later, she came home on a single by Gianna Blase to give SICS its first and only run.