Pittsfield Softball Rolls Over Taconic
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Pittsfield softball team Saturday jumped out to an early lead and brought the game to an early conclusion.
Emily Koldys went 2-for-3 with a double at the plate and scattered five hits in the circle to lead the Generals (7-1) to a 13-1 win over city rival Taconic.
Pittsfield scored one in the bottom of the first, and after Taconic (4-4) came back to tie it, the Generals tacked on four more in the second to take control of the game.
“We wanted to attack,” PHS coach Greg Marchbanks said. “We know Ashley [Keegan] is a very good pitcher, and we were ready for whatever she was going to bring.”
Allie Hunt got things going with a two-out triple in the first. She came home on Haley Tobin’s single to right.
Taconic got that run back with four straight hits in the second. Olivia Bordeau started things with a two-out single up the middle, and Morgan Leighfield, Taylar Ostrander and Kailey Bell followed.
Bordeau came home on Bell’s single to center, but PHS center fielder Britney Perkett gunned down Leighfield attempting to score on the play to end the inning and keep it 1-1.
Pittsfield rallied for four in the home half of the second. The big blow was a two-run triple by Bella Aitken in the nine hole.
“She turns the batting order over and gives us quickness out there, but she's hitting really well. I've got to evaluate and decide whether to move her up or leave her in that nine spot,” Marchbanks said. “It's a good place for her, though. She's quick, and then we get [leadoff hitter] Britney on, and we have two quick runners. It's a recipe for a lot of people to make a lot of mistakes.”
Taconic’s mistakes would come later on, in a seven-run Pittsfield fifth that ended the game.
But that came after a big defensive play by Hunt to help PHS hold a 6-1 lead in the top of the fifth.
Taconic’s Bell hit a two-out double to left and appeared to have a good chance of getting to third on the play, but Hunt hustled out from shortstop to make a relay to third that ended the inning.
“It was huge,” Marchbanks said of the play. “ I was a little upset about the positioning of our left-fielder on that one, but she hustled back, got the ball, got it to Allie, Allie makes a great throw to gun them down at third and kill the momentum for Taconic.”
The wheels came off for Taconic in the bottom of the fifth. Four errors led to seven unearned runs and a premature end to the game.
Giuliana Pierce went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Aitken went 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Erin Murphy and Hunt each had a pair of hits.
Pittsfield takes a seven-game winning streak into Monday’s game against Mount Everett. Taconic hosts Drury on Monday.