PHOTO: BOB ROCHE
Classical’s Michelle Scuzzarella drops down a bunt during a game against Danvers on Wednesday afternoon.
By STEVE KRAUSE
DANVERS — There must be buzzards flying over Classical High School this week.
Two days after the baseball team hit at least three balls dead on the screws only to have them all go right at English fielders, it was the softball team’s turn to run into the same kind of buzzard luck Wednesday at Great Oaks School. The Rams had the bases loaded and no one out in the top of the seventh inning, yet could not get any of them to the plate after two hard-hit balls were caught. The result was a 2-0 loss to Danvers, which left Rams coach Erica Richard with deeply mixed feelings.
There was the loss, every one of which lessens the 10-8 Rams’ chances of getting a home game in the upcoming tournament. But the silver lining was the way Classical played.
“We couldn’t have done more in that last inning,” said Richard. “We got our bats on the ball and put them in play. Two of them were hit very hard. But they went right at people.
“But I thought we played well,” she said. “In our last game (an 11-9 win over English) we didn’t like the way we played. But if we play the way we did today, and clean up some stuff, we could make a pretty good run in the tournament.”
“Yeah, I think we lucked out,” said Danvers coach Colleen Newbury. “I guess you could say that we played our fielders in the right spots.”
Danvers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first without getting a hit. Classical made two errors, the first when leadoff hitter Hannah Llewellyn reached base and again when Madison Mucci’s popup was dropped, allowing Llewellyn to score.
That was it for Danvers until the sixth as Classical pitcher Tori Adams kept the Falcons off-balance, three times getting the Falcons in order prior to the sixth. The problem for Classical was that Danvers’ Daria Papamechail was doing the same.
“Neither pitcher is what you’d call a flame-thrower,” said Newbury, who, in her first year coaching the Falcons after 15 seasons with St. Mary’s, has her team at 13-4 with two games remaining. “But they both had enough to keep the hitters off-balance.
“It was a good game,” she said. “I like a close game like that. It makes you have to think more.”
The sixth inning was a portent of things to come for Classical. Erica Haibon led the inning off with a single and Mucci sacrificed her to second. Lizzie Prentiss’ grounder to second moved Haibon over to third, and then Papamechail helped herself out by hitting a blooper that just eluded the glove of shortstop Rebecca Walker’s glove to score Danvers’ second run.
In the seventh, Maddie Dana led off by reaching on an error and Adams, after hitting a tapper in front of the plate, reached first on an errant throw. Ally Dunnigan hit a single to right, the Richards elected to hold pinch-runner Sydney DeJoie at third.
Michelle Scuzzarella tried to bunt DeJoie home, but instead, the runner was nailed at the plate. DeJoie seemed to be shaken up afterward.
Alaina Gridley scorched one, but it went right to left fielder Mucci for the second out. Walker hit one even harder, but shortstop Aline Dayaa was able to reach up and stab it for the final out.
Classical will play English Saturday night (5:30) in the first game of the John Holland Tournament. Danvers will play in the Courtney Corning Tournament Saturday.