Drury Has an Off Day in Upset Loss to Lee
Lee, Mass. -- The Drury softball team left its A game on the bus on Monday afternoon, and Lee had no problem taking advantage of it.The Wildcats handed the Blue Devils their first road loss of the season, scoring five runs in the bottom of the third inning to propel themselves to a 7-4 win at home. Mary Ann Maroni's club now falls to 8-1 on the road this season, with an 0-3 record at home.
"When things go wrong, they really go wrong," Maroni said. "We stranded 10 runners on base, hit into 14 ground outs and committed an uncharacteristic four errors. We did not adjust to the pitching, and Lee played flawless defense, handing all infield hits and making a couple of amazing catches in the outfield."
Drury started the game out well enough, receiving a two-run double by junior Lyndsey DeGrenier in the first inning to open up a 2-0 lead. Lee (3-8), which broke a five-game losing streak with the win, came back strong in the third inning, however, taking advantage of two Blue Devil errors to put five runs up on the board. Jackie Laudan's three-run double struck the biggest blow for Drury in the third and was enough to make a winner out of Wildcats starter Ashley Raftery. Both Ava Strezynski and Raftery collected three hits for Lee on the day.
Cat Record took the loss for the Devils, allowing three earned runs on eight hits in a complete-game performance. Record struck out four batters and walked none as her record fell to 7-3.
Senior Kendra Hinkell provided some life for the road team in the top of the seventh, taking a 2-2 pitch from Raftery and blasting a shot over the fence in left field for her third home run of the season. Junior Olivia Koperek (2 for 2 on the day) followed that up with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Kayla Brown-Wood, but that was as close as Drury would get.
Leadoff hitter Kait Moresi was a bright spot with a 3 for 4 day at the plate for the Blue Devils, who will try and get back on track with a 4:15 p.m. home game against Lenox on Wednesday.