ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Johnna Calder went 4-for-4 at the plate with three RBI in Classical’s win.
By HAROLD RIVERA
LYNN — When you’re up against Lynn Classical pitcher Tori Adams, it’s best not to give her any second chances. The English softball team learned that the hard way on a steamy Wednesday, as the Rams rolled to a 13-1 win in five innings over the Bulldogs at Breed Middle School.
English put runners on base in the early innings but the Bulldogs failed to come up with the big hits they needed. After Adams worked herself out of jams in the first two innings, she found her rhythm and her teammates followed.
“Going in, we talked about how the top of English’s order can really hit,” Classical coach Erica Richard said. “But we had to make them hit. We didn’t want to give them free bases and we did that today.”
Emma Trahant singled for English to start the top of the first and stole second. Sarah Tobin followed with another single, moving Trahant to third. Tobin stole second and English was looking at a golden opportunity.
Adams buckled down and fanned the next three Bulldogs batters to escape the jam.
“I think Tori likes the hot weather because she had some fire on her pitches today,” Richard said. “She did a great job of staying ahead in the count.”
An RBI-double to left field from Meghan Leavitt gave the Rams a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Kayla Morrill kept the rally alive with an RBI single, also to left, to bump the lead to 2-0 for Classical.
English worked into another scoring opportunity in the top of the second, but again the Bulldogs failed to get the key hit. Lindsey Lannon, who got the start in the circle, singled to start the inning. Julia Lozzi reached on an infield error and Trahant drew a walk two batters later.
Adams notched a strikeout for the final out, escaping the inning unscathed.
“We couldn’t put anything together,” English coach Cara Crowley said. “We’d get the first batters on and then nothing after that. That definitely hurt us, and it kind of hurt any momentum we had in the first few innings.”
A 2-RBI double off the bat of Johnna Calder, who went 4-for-4 at the plate, padded Classical’s lead to 4-0 through two innings.
“When we can get the top of the order going and everybody does what they need to do behind Johnna, good things happen,” Richard said.
Madison Dana hit an RBI single in the bottom of the third, and the Rams were beginning to mount a comfortable advantage at 5-0.
Adams struck out the side in the fourth, and Classical added three more runs on Leavitt’s 2-RBI double and a sacrifice bunt by Adams to make it a 8-0 game.
English’s offense finally pulled through in the top of the fifth. Tobin reached first base on an infield error and advanced to second after Rachel Calnan singled. Calnan and Tobin moved to second and third on a passed ball and Grace Gately’s groundout brought Tobin home.
The Rams plated five runs in the bottom half of the fifth to roll away with the 13-1 mercy-rule win.
“Everyone looked good today, one through nine,” Richard said. “Defensively, we did what we had to do and Tori was throwing strikes. You can’t ask for more than that.”
Classical battles Marblehead on Saturday while English visits Peabody on Friday.
“We just have to come out and play the whole game,” Crowley said. “We made a couple routine errors today, that should’ve been routine plays. If we play better softball all around we should be able to stay in it.”
Prior to Thursday’s game Classical held a pre-game ceremony to honor its four seniors.