By Poody Walsh
Rutland Herald Correspondent
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Springfield freshman Izzy Belisle tossed a two-hitter as the Cosmos coasted to a 15-1 win over Lake Region in a preliminary round Division II softball game at Bill Robinson Field on Wednesday.
It was a bad day all around for the Rangers whose bus broke down in Well River on the way from Orleans forcing the team to wait for a replacement bus and changing the scheduled 4:30 p.m. start to 6 p.m..
“And it was a brand-new bus with less than 10,000 miles on it,” said Lake Region coach Rick Edson.
Then when the game started the Rangers made four errors in the first inning as Springfield scored seven runs and got a handle on the game early.
Belisle has made the move to the mound after four-year starter Hannah Crosby was shelved late in the season when she injured her left knee in a base-running mishap. However, her recovery is coming along nicely and Springfield coach Andy Bladyka said that Crosby has a chance of playing some on Friday when Springfield hosts Fair Haven in the quarterfinals. The Slaters were 15-1 winners over Woodstock in their playdown game.
“She showed a lot of composure for a freshman,” said Bladyka who added that her tempo is different from Crosby’s. “With Izzy pitching there are more balls put in play so the defense has to be sharp. Hannah gets a lot of strikeouts.”
And the Springfield defense was solid as it made just a couple of harmless errors and pulled off a double play.
The win brought the fourth-seeded Cosmos to 12-5 on the season while the 13th-seeded Rangers close out a 4-12.
“We put a lot of balls in play, but we didn’t hit with a lot of authority which has been the way from most of the season,” said Edson. “And what was going with all those called strikes. We need to swing the bat more. We work like crazy on our offense, but you couldn’t tell that today.’
Jesse Piers was the complete-game pitcher for the Rangers, whose defense didn’t help her much, making seven errors.
“We didn’t do a whole lot right today,” said Edson.
Belisle was very efficient in pitching the complete game using just 86 pitches. The two hits off her were singles in the first and sixth innings and she struck out the side in the seventh.
Mycah White got the offense going for the Cosmos in the first inning when she homered to left, Mykahka Jasinski homered to center in the fourth. Ari Cioffi had a triple. White, Ashley Chamberlin, Jasinski and Kayla Gibbons all had two hits.
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