NORTH EASTHAM – You have to hand it to Dennis-Yarmouth centerfielder Patty Newhard: the girl can hit the stuffing out of the ball.
Newhard posted her second straight 4-5 day at the plate as her undefeated Dolphins downed the host Nauset Warriors, 9-2 in softball action Thursday afternoon. Dennis-Yarmouth is now 7-0 on the season.
Dennis-Yarmouth’s Taylor Conley went 3-5 Thursday in the Dolphins’ 9-2 comeback win over Nauset.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos
But it wasn’t quite as easy as it may have seemed at the outset of this affair as the Warriors plated a run in the first inning on Dolphin ace Sammi Feinstein for a 1-0 lead.
Newhard then led off the top of the third inning with her first of four hits on the day and came rambling home to tie it 1-1 on a Maggie Johnson triple.
The Warriors seemed reluctant to give in to their feisty Atlantic Coast League rivals, and took back the lead, 2-1, in the bottom of the third on an unearned run.
Nauset’s Natalie Keagul struck out a pair of Dolphins in the top of the fourth and got the third out on an infield fly to first, and from the looks of it the Warriors began to smell the faint hope of an upset.
But that’s when the visiting Big Green Machine came alive and never looked back.
Dennis-Yarmouth shortstop and leadoff hitter Taylor Conley started things with a single, Newhard followed suit and so did Johnson as the guests plated a pair of runs to take their first lead of the game at 3-2.
Buoyed by her teammates’ perseverance, Feinstein retired the side with a pair of strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth, sandwiched around a grounder she aptly fired over to first.
The Dolphins put up another deuce in the sixth on four straight two-out basehits and headed to the seventh with a 5-2 lead. Six more D-Y hits resulted in four more runs and Feinstein made quick business of the Warrior lineup – in succession – to wrap up her 7th victory in the circle.
Kiley Chapasko and Conley both went 3-5 and the hard-slugging Johnson matched Newhard’s output with her own 4-5 day at the plate, including the aforementioned three-bagger.
Feinstein went the distance and scattered just three hits while walking one. She struck out eight.
D-Y heads to Mashpee on Monday (May 4) to face the Falcons at 4:00 pm.
St. John Paul II – 12
Sturgis East – 0
Lady Lions’ catcher Hadley Tate went 3-3 and her battery mate Jackie Smith went the distance in a 12-0 victory over host Sturgis East Thursday afternoon.
St. John Paul II’s Madi Doyle takes a hack in an earlier season game with Sturgis East.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos
St. John Paul II (9-1) outscored its opponents 25-1 in less than 24 hours, combined with Thursday’s 12-0 blanking of The Storm and a 23-1 onslaught over Cape Cod Tech on Wednesday in which Tate belted her 10th home run of the season.
Versus The Storm, Smith struck out five and allowed just three hits while walking none to pace the Lions to their ninth win of the season against one loss. She also belted a home run in the fifth inning that capped off an eight-run rally. Smith’s sister – Lions’ leadoff hitter Kasey Smith – went 2-4 and scored two runs, while also stealing two bases to add to the damage.
Regardless, Sturgis East head coach Nick Conti was pleased with the effort as The Storm held the Lions to just a 4-0 lead before the wheels came off in the fifth.
“We had a few errors and a few walks and that is what happened to us in the fifth inning,” Conti said. “The girls played well again.”
Conti credited Nicole Collucci, Deja Andrews, Mia Gavin and Sarah Clifford with superlative defensive play and added that freshman hurler Gabby McKinnon performed brilliantly until the dismal fifth frame.
Ashley DaCruz, Andrews and Ariana Jackson each had hits for the Storm.
Marshfield – 15
Barnstable – 5
The Red Raiders (3-6) watched the visiting Rams plate seven first-inning runs Thursday afternoon and never truly recovered en route to a 15-5 non-league loss at home.
Jamie Corey went 2-4 with two RBI, including two triples, and joining her was Cassidy Lariviere who also went 2-4 with a pair of RBI.
The late-inning effort did not go unnoticed by first-year head coach Martha Deusser.
“I’m very proud of the grit these girls show every day,” Coach Deusser said. “We’re back at it tomorrow.”
The Red Raiders welcome Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) today (Friday, May 1) at 4:00 pm.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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