Both Newport’s varsity baseball and softball programs hosted Fall Mountain on Wednesday, April 11 for their season openers, and both started their season on a high-note, with baseball winning 14-3 and softball winning 12-0.
Newport baseball’s bats were hot to start their game. After just one inning, Newport got out to an 8-0 lead and they never looked back. Daniel Lee had the memorable blast in the bottom of the first, a 2 RBI-double to left-center that may have been a homer in other parks. Kyle Fish and Kyle Rossiter each had an RBI-single in the inning as well. Newport coach, Jon Hamel, on the first inning, said, “Bats came alive in the first inning… so that’s good to see. We will rely on timely hitting going forward this season. Daniel Lee had a great hit in the left-center gap. That hit stood out.”
Besides Fall Mountains’ glimpse of offense that came in the second inning, when they scored two runs on a double to center, the game was controlled by the Tigers. First-year Head Coach for Fall Mountain, Stephen McManus, saw this game as a learning curve for his young team: “As a first-year coach, I want to walk out of here with a ‘W’, but at the same time, I want to see what we need to work on. I haven’t really had the opportunity to see these guys play, and that’s what I wanted today. Inexperience and a lack of a preseason really showed… a lot of mental mistakes out there.”
McManus is trying to settle in with the Bobcats. He spoke honestly post-game, saying, “It was fist-game jitters… not only for the players but for me as well… Coming to a new team and working with these boys for the first time… it’s a little nerve-wracking… but I think everybody got it out of their system and now we can move on.” When asked if he thinks it is only up from here for Fall Mountain baseball, McManus said, “I think so. This team has some depth. I think this team has a lot of seasoned players that can really contribute.”
Kyle Fish played well on the mound for the Tigers, seemingly having a confidence that he rode throughout the game. Whether it was singing in-between innings or chatting it up with third baseman Cody Turgeon, he had a swagger about him on Wednesday, and Fall Mountain didn’t have the bats to take him out of his groove. Coach Hamel, on Fish, said, “Kyle’s pitching was solid. He had some arm issues so we were monitoring that, but he pulled through and pitch a great game.”
Coach Hamel is hoping this win translates to success moving forward. Post-game, he said, “Last year… we were 4-12… we had maybe eight games where we were leading or in a close game past the fifth inning, but we would either make mental mistakes or didn’t have the hitting when we needed it. This was a big game with our bats and hopefully we will see more of this. It was a great team effort from everyone. It was a great way to start the season. Hopefully this gets the kids pumped up and motivated for the rest of the year.”
Newport softball also let their bats do the talking early, as they got up on Fall Mountain 8-0 after the first two innings. They would score two more in the third and the final two in the fifth. The Tigers’ offense was active throughout the game. Head Coach Sam McNeel used this game to understand how his team will operate, saying, “We executed well. We did a lot of small ball and situational stuff, which was good to practice that before we’re going to need it.”
Newport was led by Lacey McNeel’s four hits and and RBI, Kendall Hamilton’s single, double, and 2 RBIs, Stacia Dame’s two singles, a double and 3 RBIs, and Alyssa Burr’s two hits for 4 RBIs.
Fall Mountain only had two hits on the day, singles by Nicole Limoges and Erin Devanney. On his defense, coach Hamel said, “They didn’t put the ball in play much, but when they did, we made the plays… we didn’t have any errors, which is big.”
On the mound for Newport was McNeel, who pitched all five innings. She had nine strikeouts, and only gave up one walk and two hits.
On the opening-day win, Hamel said, “The girls… I was really impressed with how they played. We have some young players… three freshman started today… so it’s a fairly young group and it was good to see them compete.”
UP NEXT
Fall Mountain baseball hosts Belmont at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Newport baseball hosts White Mountains at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Newport softball is away at Hanover at noon on Saturday.
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