PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Wyoma shortstop Allie Fritz makes a good stop on a hard grounder in the first inning.
By MIKE ALONGI
MARBLEHEAD — Behind great baserunning and solid pitching, the Wyoma Little League All-Star softball team took down Marblehead, 9-3, at Marblehead Veterans Middle School on Wednesday evening. Baserunning was key in the win for Wyoma, as four of its nine runs came from sprinting home on passed balls.
“We are aggressive on the basepaths and we will take the extra base when we have the chance,” said Wyoma coach Jay Newhall. “We stayed aggressive for the whole game today and it worked in our favor for sure.”
In the circle, Lily Newhall took control for Wyoma. She tossed a complete game and gave up three runs on three hits with eight strikeouts, and she retired 14 of the final 18 batters she faced.
“One of the best things about having a pitcher like her is that she gets stronger as the game goes on,” said Newhall. “They were making some contact early on, and then as the game went on they weren’t. She did a great job today and I’m proud of her.”
On the offensive end for Wyoma, Kaelyn Jennings (2-for-3) and Reese Brinkler (2-for-4) each had two RBI and Gianna Nikolakakis (1-for-3) had one RBI.
For Marblehead, pitcher Emma Hortaridis had the lone RBI and also tossed a complete game in the circle, striking out 13 batters in the loss.
Wyoma jumped right out of the gate in the top of the first, starting with its leadoff hitter. After Jennings walked to lead off the game, she stole both second and third base before taking home on a passed ball to make it 1-0. Marblehead eventually walked the bases loaded, and two more runs were able to score on passed balls. Although Hortaridis struck out the final two batters to get out of the inning, Marblehead was already in a 3-0 hole.
The score stayed there until the bottom of the second, when Marblehead used the basepaths to notch a couple of runs. With runners on second and third with one out, Bridgette Tauro scored from third after a dropped third strike got away behind the plate to make it 3-1. Just a few pitches later, Lucy Rubino scored on a passed ball to cut the deficit to one run.
It was at this point that the pitchers on both sides settled down for a few innings and the game got close, with the game stuck at 3-2 until the top of the fifth.
It was in the top of the fifth that Wyoma was able to break the game open. With runners on second and third with one out, another run came in on a passed ball. Now with a runner just on third, Brinkler knocked an RBI single to left field to make it 5-2. Nikolakakis followed that up with another RBI single, then Jennings busted the game open with a two-run double to left-centerfield to make it 8-2.
Marblehead got one run back in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single from Hortaridis, but that was as close as it could get. Newhall closed the door and retired the final four batters of the game to walk away with the win.
“You can’t ever complain about a win,” said Newhall. “We played a good defensive game, got good pitching and got some timely hits. So getting a little bit of everything was nice today.”
Next up for Wyoma is Salem on Friday at Lynn Woods.