By Christopher Shaban
NEWPORT — The Monadnock Huskies stepped off their bus with their hitting shoes on as they continued their hot playoff streak taming the Tigers.
After cruising past Kearsarge 16-1 on Monday, Newport were their next victims as junior Gracie LaClair notched her second no-no of the season for Monadnock.
“I use the same approach every game, I just look at the glove and fire strikes and let my team do the work” said LaClair.
That glove belonged to Paige Beede who is the only senior on the Huskies team and a sensational catcher. “Gracie is just a great pitcher, I call the signals and put my mit up and she just hits it” said Beebe.
Not only did the Huskies pitching come to play on Wednesday but those bats were red hot as they plated five first inning runs. Home runs off the bats of Emma Loudermilk and a three run tater from Sawn Bixby were all the runs Monadnock would need.
The Newport bats just went silent all game as the only base runners were by walks as Emma O’Connor, Tanya Sanchez and Maddy Norris all got on the base paths but none of them reached second base. “We were nervous today and the kids just were out of sync, with a team like Monadnock, you need to be ready” said Newport head coach Sam McNeel.
There were two Newport errors on the day, but the Huskies were just making solid contact and hitting the balls where the Tigers were not. The Huskies blasted four home runs and ended with 18 hits for the 17 runs.
“We fought like we always do. Monadnock is a very good team but we did our best today” said Newport senior Shelby Adams.
The Tigers finished with a 9-4 season but Adams said she thinks the future is bright.
“This group will be really good next year, they have the talent to go all the way but I’m sure going to miss playing for Newport” added Adams.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.