Bishop Powers Drury at Hoosac Valley
ADAMS, Mass. – Drury senior Brooke Bishop went 4-for-4 with two home runs and eight RBIs, and the Blue Devils earned a dominating 16-2 win over rival Hoosac Valley on Monday at Russell Field.
Olivia Perry struck out nine and allowed just one earned run in the circle as Drury snapped a two-game losing skid and got back to .500 on the season.
“We keep coming into games with a positive attitude,” Bishop said. “That just keeps reflecting on how we’ve played.
“Even though we’ve lost some games, they’ve all been close. We’ve been in it at one point or another. And today the positive attitude paid off.”
Drury wasted no time jumping in front.
Maddie Saunders led off the game with a single and went to third on an outfield error. No. 2 hitter Ariana Rivard then drove her home with a single up the middle. Rivard scored on a double by Bishop, and Bishop came home when Perry reached on Hoosac Valley’s second error of the inning.
That became a theme that would repeat throughout the game.
Drury pounded out 18 hits but also took advantage of eight Hoosac Valley errors.
“We’ve been working on baserunning a lot,” Drury coach Michelle Darling said. “Today, they were heads up. I had two young JVs come up and help run. And they did well. They held their own today.”
After Hoosac Valley pitcher Gracelyn Wright got out of the first by retiring two straight to leave runners at the corners, Drury scored three more in the top of the second to take a 6-0 lead.
Again, a Hurricane error helped the rally, which saw Perry (3-for-4) drive in a pair of runs with a double.
In the bottom of the frame, Rachael Wnuk led off with a single for Hoosac and eventually came home on a sacrifice bunt by Alayna Shears to make it a five-run game.
After Drury tacked on a pair in the fourth, Wnuk scored again for the Hurricanes – this time taking advantage of a pair of Drury errors – to get Hoosac Valley within six at 8-2.
But Drury pulled away in the late innings, getting a two-run homer to left from Bishop in the fifth and a three-run shot to center in the sixth in a pair of four-run rallies that ended the game via the run rule after six innings.
Despite seeing his team take its first loss of the season on a day when it had all kinds of defensive troubles behind Wright (eight strikeouts, four earned runs), Hoosac Valley coach Mike Ameen was upbeat.
“I told them in the huddle: It’s a game. You show up. You play. And then you go home and eat a cheeseburger,” Ameen said. “Into every life, a little rain must fall. We can’t win every game. You’re not going to lose every game. And you play for the competition.
“They’re young kids. They handled it well. And we’ll be back.”
Darling, meanwhile, was glad to see her team get back its winning ways.
“We came back from last week and started new today,” she said. “We had some changes. And it worked out for us.”
Drury (3-3) hosts Mount Everett on Tuesday.
Hoosac Valley (4-1) goes to McCann Tech on Tuesday.