Lenox Blanks Lee in Opener
LEE, Mass. – The Lenox softball team Monday broke open a pitchers’ duel late to earn a 6-0 win over Lee in the season opener for both teams.
The Millionaires, who got two hits and two RBIs apiece from Amaya Alger and Lilly MacDonald, scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to open up some breathing room.
Evelyn Julieano and Cassidy Flynn did not need much offensive support.
The pair combined for 10 strikeouts and allowed just two hits in the victory.
“They’re our one-two pitch here, and they work really well together,” Lenox coach Amy Pires said. “And having Hailey Armold back as our catcher is an absolute bonus.”
Julieano got the ball to start the game and K’d eight while allowing a walk and a hit in five innings of work.
Pires was happy to be able to turn things over to Flynn, who went 6-2 in the circle last spring as a seventh-grader.
“[Julieano] was probably a little bit tired, but she only threw, I think, 68 pitches,” Pires said. “But we also have our game against Drury tomorrow. So we’re thinking about that and trying to get her out. And Cassidy did her job.”
Alger and MacDonald did their job at the plate in the top of the fourth by leading off the inning with back-to-back doubles.
MacDonald’s double to center brought home Alger with the first run of the game, and MacDonald scored on Flynn’s RBI groundout to make it 2-0.
A walk and an error allowed Lenox to get runners at second and third with one out, but Lee’s Bri Lynch closed the door, getting the next two hitters on strikeouts.
Lynch went on to strike out 11 while allowing four earned runs in the loss.
The Wildcats nearly answered Lenox’s runs with its best offensive threat of the game in the bottom of the fourth.
Samantha Walker worked a one-out walk and went to third on a single by Lynch. Lynch took second on the play, giving Lee two runners in scoring position with one out.
But this time it was Julieano’s turn to work out of a jam, retiring the next two hitters on strikeouts to keep it 2-0.
A single from Brooke DellaGiustina helped Lee put runners at the corners with two out in the fifth against Flynn, but she ended that inning with a strikeout and worked a 1-2-3 seventh.
First-year Lee coach Scott Sibley, who coached in the Lenox program the last couple of years, it did not really matter which of the Millionaires’ aces his team faced on Monday.
“Speed-wise, they’re probably within a mile or two of each other,” Sibley said. “Evelyn’s probably somewhere around 55 [mph], and Cassidy’s probably like about 53. Cassidy is, I guess, a little more of a precise pitcher. She places the ball a little better than Evelyn. Evelyn will come out and throw hard and try to strike you out with the fastballs – every once in a while throwing a changeup. Where Cassidy picks her spots and is good at it.
“They’re not quite as familiar with Cassidy as I, maybe, am. So it could have been a little adjustment for them. But they’re both good pitchers. Whenever either one of them is on the diamond, there’s gonna be good things to come for [Lenox].”
Julieano helped Lenox’s offense with a leadoff triple to right field to start the seventh inning.
She came home on sister Grace Julieano’s sacrifice bunt that saw Grace reach first base on a fielder’s choice.
Grace stole second and moved up on an error that allowed Karalynn Hopkins to reach first.
Alger then drove in a pair of runs to make it 5-0, and she scored on MacDonald’s second RBI of the day to close out the scoring.
Lenox (1-0) is back on the road on Tuesday to face Drury in North Adams.
Lee (0-1), which saw its Thursday game postponed due to unplayable field conditions at Smith Vocational, is off until next Monday when it travels to Gateway.