NEWPORT- The Newport Tigers softball team hosted the Mascoma Royals in the First Round of the NHIAA Division III Tournament Wednesday night, and made it look easy, beating the Royals 20-0.
Mascoma was able to give the Tigers some slight trouble in the top of the first. Royals’ Morgan Prentiss would reach second on a double, before advancing to third with only one out. But, she would be stranded there, as a great snag from Newport’s Megan Howard and a strikeout ended the top-half scoreless.
Newport’s offense would break the game wide open in the bottom half of the first. With no outs and the bases loaded, Alyssa Burr singled home two, to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. A single from Shelby Adams would also drive in two to make it 4-0 Newport.
Howard then singled home one, before scoring on a poor pickoff attempt from the Mascoma Catcher, making it 6-0. Hailey Perry would steal home on a passed ball, before a Kendall Hamilton single made it 8-0. Stacia Dame wrapped up the scoring for the inning with an inside-the-park homerun. 10-0 Tigers after one.
On offense, Newport was able to tee-off on the Royals. “We are coming around and starting to hit better,” said Tigers head coach Sam McNeel. “I expect the girls to hit, it is just about the execution.”
The Tigers would tack on another run in the second, giving them an 11-0 advantage. Newport’s starting pitcher, Lacey McNeel, had another solid outing, allowing no runs on 75 pitches, while striking out 10.
The home team would continue to pull ahead in the third, when a bunt from Burr plated Hamilton, 12-0 Tigers. A groundout then made it 13-0, before a single from Perry would push the lead to 14-0 Newport.
The drubbing continued in the bottom of the fourth. Libby Tremblay led-off the inning with a single, before an error scored her later to make it 16-0. A groundout from Dame made it 17-0, before Howard obtained another RBI with a single to push it to 18-0.
A single from Kelsey Wheeler would make it 19-0, and Tremblay stepped to the plate for her second time in the inning and drove a single to center to reach the eventual outcome, 20-0 Newport. The Tigers would finish with 19 hits for the contest.
The blowout win advances Newport into the quarterfinals of the tournament, while the loss sends Mascoma home.
“I do not know if this win helps at all,” said McNeel on what the win does for his squad. “What does help is that we faced and beat Mascenic a few days ago. We just need to keep executing and be ready.”
The Tigers will host the Vikings of Mascenic Saturday in Newport at 4 p.m.
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