Hampshire's Big Bats too much for Drury
WESTHAMPTON, Mass. -- What once was a promising season full of pleasant surprises for the Drury softball team ended rather abruptly on Thursday, as the No. 7 Blue Devils went down 10-2 to No. 2 Hampshire in the quarterfinals of the Division 2 Western Massachusetts Softball Tournament.Mary Ann Maroni's club looked like a team to be reckoned with 15 games into the season. Drury started off 11-4, but lost five out of its last six games to finish the 2011 campaign with a record of 12-9.
Freshman pitcher Cat Record, who made a name for herself in her first season on varsity for the Blue Devils, struggled in her final game of the season. She gave up six earned runs on 10 hits, striking out one and walking four to finish the year at 11-8. The Red Raiders (17-2) were no slouches to begin with and certainly showed why they were the No. 2 seed in the tournament by scoring in all but one inning in the game.
Hampshire got two big hits to put the game away, receiving a two-run home run by Janelle Gorman in the fourth inning and another two-run shot by Bri Wetlich in the sixth to open a 10-1 lead for the hosts. Drury took a 1-0 lead on an RBI double by sophomore Ali Tatro in the second inning, but the Raiders would storm right back in the bottom half of the inning, collecting three hits and taking advantage of two Blue Devils' errors to score four runs in the frame.
Tatro was the lone bright spot for a struggling Drury offense. She went 3 for 3 to increase her batting average to .302 for the year.
"Whatever the reason, we just do not play well at Hampshire," Maroni said. "We have lost in the first round for the last two years at the hands of Hampshire. Our top four batters have been struggling for the last four games, and this struggle continued today as they were able to collect only two hits in 15 at bats. We were never able to get the timely hits we needed and left runners on base in almost every inning. We had the bases loaded in the seventh with no outs, and we were able to score only one run."
Sophomore Ashlee McGan picked up the win in the circle for the Raiders, striking out seven and walking just one in seven full innings of work.
It was a tough way to go out for a Blue Devils' senior class that won a Western Mass. title with the team as freshman. Seniors Kait Moresi, Kendra Hinkell, Ashley Mirante, Kelsey Ouimet and Kayla Brown-Wood should take solace in the fact that they had a solid season in what many people thought could be a down year for Drury. Record came on and gave Maroni the viable starting pitcher she needed, while several other underclassmen played pivotal roles in key positions all throughout the season.
In the end, the Blue Devils' lack of experience in key positions might have caught up to them in critical games down the stretch.