Tobins Lead Pittsfield Softball in Rout
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Pittsfield softball team has scored a lot of runs this spring, but Saturday morning’s performance was as impressive as any the Generals have turned in.
Fewer than 24 hours after earning a 4-1 win against Jocelyn Bodington and the Cumberland, R.I., Clippers, PHS pounded out 14 hits to earn a 13-0 win that ended in the bottom of the fifth inning on Saturday.
Haley Tobin went 3-for-3 with a double and three runs batted in, and Madison Tobin was 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs to key Pittsfield’s offense as the Generals (12-2) won their 10th straight and scored double digit runs for the fifth time in nine games.
What was eye-catching about this performance was that it came against a pitcher who gave up limited damage against the Generals on Friday afternoon.
“She’s a very good pitcher,” Pittsfield coach Greg Marchbanks said. “Earlier in the year, setting up the schedule, I wanted to face good pitching for when we get to the tournament. I saw her on YouTube, and we were asked, ‘Should we play her or not?’ I said, ‘Yeah, let’s play her. Let’s see where our team is.’
“We have a young team. We have seven freshmen and sophomores and five junior/seniors, and I wanted to test our guys. I knew we had talent, and we had to pull our guys together and see what we have.
“We keep getting tested and keep getting tested and keep stepping up.”
Giulianna Pierce again stepped up in the circle on Saturday, holding the Clippers to just two hits and no walks.
She pitched out of a jam in the first inning when the leadoff batter singled to right and moved up on a groundout and a fly ball. But Pierce got the final out on a grounder to shortstop Madison Tobin, who made four plays in the first three innings.
“She really stepped up today,” Marchbanks said. “She made two diving plays. She loves the field. She absolutely loves it. She’s done it since she was a little kid, just day after day after day after day. That’s what she enjoys doing.”
Pierce recorded one-two-three innings in the second and third, but an error and a hit put another Clipper in scoring position in the fourth. Pierce bore down and got a strikeout to end that threat before pitching a 1-2-3 fifth.
At that point, it still was a ballgame at 6-0. But Pittsfield scored seven in the bottom of the fifth to end it.
A couple of walks and an infield single by pinch-hitter Brianna Clary got things started, and then an error, a fielder’s choice an RBI walk preceded Haley Tobin’s third hit of the day, an RBI single to right.
At that point, a clearly tiring Bodington left the circle, and Erin Murphy met the reliever with a sacrifice fly to make it 10-0. Tess Lyon followed with a two-run single, and a wild pitch accounted for the game’s final run.
Pittsfield, which played five games in five days, takes Sunday off before hosting Vermont’s Mount Anthony on Monday, the first of just two games scheduled for the week ahead.