'Canes Keep Wildcats Around in Extra-Inning Defeat
LEE, Mass. -- The Hoosac Valley softball team was far too generous in a 10-9 loss to Lee on Friday. The Hurricanes led the Wildcats four different times in the game but made seven errors on the day that allowed Lee to hang around long enough before pulling out a victory in the bottom of the 10th inning.Ava Strezynski led off the bottom of the 10th with a double to right field, one nine doubles on the day for the Wildcats (5-9). She then came home on Stephanie Young's well-placed bunt down the first-base line to give Lee its third win in a row. The Wildcats made big plays at the plate all day, pounding out 19 hits against the Hoosac pitching duo of Ashley Ciepiela and Amanda Meczywor.
"This game was a learning experience," Hurricanes head coach Morgan Shafer said. Both of my pitchers tried their best, but Lee just got great hits and our defense just made too many errors today, which cost us some runs."
Ciepiela started the game and lasted the first five innings before leaving with the scored tied at four runs apiece. Meczywor finished the contest, allowing six runs, two of which were earned, striking out five and walking one to take the loss. Lee's Ashley Raftery pitched all 10 innings to earn the win.
Errors hurt Hoosac (10-4) on three different occasions late in the game. After a solo home run by Meczywor gave the Hurricanes' an 8-5 lead in the top of the seventh, miscues by the Hoosac defense allowed the Wildcats to score three runs to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning. Junior Sabrina Sommer then hit a double and scored on a passed ball to give the 'Canes the lead again in the ninth, but again Lee took advantage of errors to score a single run in their half of the frame. Strezynski's double in the bottom of the 10th was compounded by a throwing error from the outfield that allowed her to move to third base on the play.
While the defense had its struggles, the Hoosac offense was certainly on point all day. Sophomore Tori Rumbolt had a nice day, hitting a three-run triple to left-center field in the sixth while finishing with two hits and two runs scored in the game. Senior Karli Schrade smacked a two-run triple to highlight a three-run third inning for the Hurricanes, while Meczywor finished the game with three hits, two RBI and two runs scored.
Hoosac shouldn't stress for too long about the loss, as they play Lee again in a 4 p.m. home game on Monday.