A couple of defensive lapses and an inability to get the offense going until it was too late proved to be the Lynnfield softball team’s undoing Friday afternoon against visiting Lowell Catholic, which took care of business with a 7-2 win.
Trailing 7-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Pioneers cut the deficit to 7-2 on an RBI-double by catcher Lily Williams, but an ill-timed, game-ending double play on a popup to second base snuffed out the rally.
“I thought our pitchers pitched well today – well enough to have a shot at a win,” said coach Hector Longo. “Gia (Gagnon) and Sophia (Brown) did their jobs today but we were a little flat, and that’s what happened. Like I said, you battle and you play seven innings and they’re pretty good, but they’ve beaten us twice now. I wish we hit the ball a bit better, but we didn’t.”
Gagnon took the hard-luck loss, giving up five runs (only 4 earned) on eight hits with three strikeouts and a walk in five innings. Brown mopped up the last two innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits.
Gagnon (1-for-1, run) staked Lynnfield to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. She tripled to left and scored on Ava Gamache’s ground out to third.
Lowell Catholic took the lead for good in the top of the fourth with three unearned runs to lead 3-1. The Red Raiders added two more in the fifth, taking advantage of a couple of defensive miscues to lead 5-1 and added two more in the seventh to bump the lead to 7-1.
Lynnfield came out swinging in its half of the inning. Libby Considine (1-for-3, run) led off with a hard single to left and advanced to second on Julia Corrente’s (1-for-3) single. Williams (1-for-3, RBI) then ripped a long double to right, plating Considine and making it a 7-2 game. But two batters later, the game ended when a Lynnfield runner was gunned down at home on the double play.
Kaila George (1-for-3, double) and Kelter (1-for-2) had the only other home-team hits.
One of the highlights of the game was a heads-up play by Considine in the top of the sixth. A Red Raider got caught off first and a rundown ensued. Considine alertly came in from right field to cover first base and slapped the tag on the runner for the inning-ending out.
“She had a really tough start, but she made up for it with that hustle on that play, which was really good,” Longo said. “It was heads up. We made a switch a couple of weeks ago. We switched her and Olivia Kelter from second and right and it’s really solidified the defense. Libby’s been great in right field since she got out there and that had been a problem, and Olivia’s been doing really great at second.”
Williams had a tremendous day behind the plate, framing strikes and not allowing a single passed ball. She also threw out a runner at third on a steal attempt to contain the damage.
“Lily is only a sophomore and she’s been tremendous behind the plate,” Longo said. “Nothing got by her, nothing. She’s growing into herself as a hitter as well and she hit a bomb in that last inning. She’s caught every inning since I’ve been here. As her confidence has grown, she’s just so impressive. Every coach we play against raves about her and they’re right. She’s great defensively and she is starting to really hit the ball hard. I don’t know where I’d be without her.”
The Pioneers also struggled a bit on the basepaths, something Longo feels is a work in progress.
“Right now, we’re not really the best base running team, but we’re working on it,” he said.
