By Christopher Shaban
Eagle Times Correspondent
CLAREMONT – A move up in divisions for Stevens didn’t damper an intense rivalry, as FM visited riding a 4-game winning streak on Wednesday night at Veterans Park.
But FM ran into a hungry team trying to prove they belong in D-II, as Stevens won 14-2.
Both teams opened the game with some quick offense as FM plated Nicole Limoges and Savana Wilson off a long triple by Tess Marsden.
The Cardinals answered right back, crossing home plate five times as Makayla Maccioli’s double tied the score 2-2 after Jenna Pond and Ellee Grenier reached base. Maccioli the scored from an RBI single off the hot bat of Ashlyn Marsh and Tanner Brown capped off the first inning with a great slide around the glove of Wildcats’ Sage Stark to give Stevens a 5-2 lead.
“Stevens is a solid team and they hit well tonight,” said FM head coach Kevin Hicks.
Both pitchers started to settle down following that first inning. Wildcats’ Chloe Vogel silenced the Cardinal bats over the next two innings by mixing up her pitches with a variety of off-speed stuff and perfectly spotted throws, while Stevens’ Madison Lapsley shut down the Wildcats over the rest of the game with a powerful pitching performance.
Stevens added onto their lead in the fourth as Pond’s RBI drove in Amelia Parizo and Grenier’s deep triple to center then plated Pond for a 7-2 Stevens cushion.
“We’ve been in a couple of close games and the hits were starting to come,” said Stevens head coach Missy Nichols. “Tonight it all seemed to come together from all parts of the lineup.”
Those hits came off the lumber in bunches in the fifth, as the Cardinals broke the game open with 6 more runs. Pond, Grenier, Kate Chambers, Marsh, Lapsley and Madeline Ferland all registered hits in that bottom-half.
“It felt really good to get the hits tonight against a really good pitcher like Chloe Vogel,” said Pond. “Our confidence has been growing and tonight we all seemed to find our hitting shoes.”
Pond’s RBI in the top of the sixth closed out the scoring on the day.
Pond and Grenier led the hit parade for Stevens with 3 hits each while Marsh, Brown (triple), Lapsley and Parizo all added two hits each for the 14-hit Cardinals attack. Wilson led FM with 2 hits on the night.
Lapsley and Vogel both went the distance on the bump for each team. Lapsley allowed 4 hits while striking out 6.
Stevens (2-3) will host Conval (1-2) on Friday evening while the Wildcats (4-2) will head to Mondanock (2-1) for a noon game on Saturday.
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