Drury Softball Earns First Win of Season

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Drury softball team Monday exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the second inning en route to its first win of the season.

 

But before it could get to the bottom of the second, Drury had to get through the top of the frame.

 

And visiting Monument Mountain was making that quite a challenge, scoring four runs to take a 4-2 lead and loading the bases with one out.

 

That’s when Drury coach Morgan Shafer opted to move regular starting pitcher Katie Booth from first base to the circle.

 

Booth got the first batter she saw to bounce back to rubber for an RBI groundout. The she walked a pair of runners before getting another groundout to the circle to end the inning and keep it a two-run game.

 

The Blue Devils quickly erased that deficit and led by as many as 11 runs before taking a 16-11 win on Francis Millard Field.

 

Mackenzie Dobbert went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, Abby Lear was 2-for-4 with a three-run triple, and Anna Dix and Caroline Cellana each drove in a pair of runs as Drury improved to 1-2 after a nine-day layoff.

 

Booth got a well-deserved win despite having to pitch around 10 walks to allow two earned runs in 5-⅔ innings of work.

 

“She got us out of that [second-inning] jam,” Shafer said. “She’s a really strong leader on our team, whether she’s pitching or playing defense. You saw her over at first base. She was making good plays.

 

“The team looks to her to be a leader, and she’s doing a really good job keeping her confidence up and not letting herself get down. Even if, you know, she might be walking a few or letting a few get on base.”

 

The pivotal rally for Drury started with a leadoff walk earned by Hali Cartmill. After Cellana laid down a sacrifice bunt to get her into scoring position, Jacqueline Moulton earned a base on balls, and an error and an Olivia Mazzacco walk loaded the bases with a run in and one out for Dobbert.

 

She tattooed a ball into the right-center gap, sending Moulton and Lear home and giving Drury a 5-4 lead.

 

Dix and Cellana each had two-run singles before the rally was over, leaving the Blue Devils ahead, 9-4.

 

They tacked on three in the third and four in the sixth -- thanks mostly to Lear’s triple to center field -- to go ahead, 16-5, going to the seventh.

 

The Spartans (3-2) refused to go away.

 

Abbie Wade had a two-run single to key a six-run rally for the visitors in their last at-bat. Monument Mountain took advantage of three walks and two errors before Cellana ranged over from shortstop to snag a fly ball on the first-base side for the final out.

 

Though Drury did commit some miscues behind Booth and starter Lear, Shafer was encouraged to see her squad’s performance after more than a week without competition.

 

“We did a lot of good things,” she said. “We had a whole week off with no games because of spring break, so we just had a couple of practice days. To come out, we had a little bit of a slow start; I thought we could have been hitting the ball just a little bit better.

 

“Defensively, I saw a lot of good things, like them getting dirty to get to balls and trying their best to to make those plays and keep the ball in the infield. So that was really good stuff.”

 

After that long layoff, Drury will look to keep the good times rolling on Tuesday at Mohawk before finishing the week against Mount Everett on Thursday and at Pittsfield on Saturday morning.

 

The Spartans go to Mount Everett on Tuesday.