Cardinals fall to John Stark

By Cody Nichols
WEARE — The Stevens Cardinals softball team traveled to Weare on Thursday to take on the John Stark Generals in a match of two of the top teams in Division III. Stevens fought hard but were defeated by John Stark 7-1.

The Stevens girls came out swinging with Emily Peaslee knocking in Makayla Maccioli on an RBI single to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. The Generals would come right back though with the first two hitters reaching on a hit by pitch and a single before two quick outs. The Cardinals and pitcher Brianna Frisbee could not get out of the inning clean however with Kacie Weston lining a 2 RBI single to give John Stark a 2-1 lead through the first inning.

The first inning was the last time that the Cardinals would put a run on the board despite a lot of chances. They faced a strong pitcher in Izzy Nelson and an outstanding Generals defense. Despite being held to one run, Stevens coach Missy Nichols was happy with the way her team played “The girls did a good job making adjustments from the first Stark game to this one. We did a much better job making contact and putting the ball in play. They made a few great plays in the outfield that prevented us from possibly having big innings.”

John Stark added to their lead in the 2nd when the first two hitters reached on errors followed by an RBI single by Gracie Bolduc and a 3 RBI home run by Lilli Stogner which gave the Generals a 6-1 lead. Missy Nichols said, “We had a couple errors in the 2nd which led to a big inning but other than that we did a nice job being able to keep them from scoring.” Cardinals’ hurler Brianna Frisbee was able to hold John Stark at bay until they tacked on an additional run in the 7th inning on an RBI groundout by Izzy Nelson. Frisbee went the distance for the Cardinals allowing 7 runs with 3 strikeouts.

The Cardinals are right back on the diamond tomorrow when they take on the Mascoma Royals at 7 p.m. for Senior Night.