By Ray Curren
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT- Senior Night. Senior Walk-Off. You couldn’t write a much better script for Brianna Frisbee Wednesday night at Veterans Park.
Having already homered earlier in the night, Frisbee entered her home regular season career with a long double in the bottom of the seventh, scoring Kiley Bundy from first, and giving Stevens a key 6-5 NHIAA Division II win over Pembroke.
“To end my Senior Night game with a walk-off is pretty magical,” Frisbee said. “It was definitely the energy we had all night that kept us going.”
After the Spartans (7-7) scored first in the top of the third off freshman pitcher Mia Herbert, Frisbee’s two-out homer in the bottom of the frame (also scoring Bundy from first) to right field gave the Cardinals (10-3) a 2-1 advantage. They extended it to 4-1 in the next inning with senior Mackenzie Murray-Brown picking up an RBI single and fellow senior Emily Peaslee scoring after a rather painful hit by pitch.
Stevens still had the bases loaded with no one out in the fourth but failed to add to its lead and Pembroke looked like it might take advantage of the reprieve, putting together three straight hits in the top of the fifth, including one from clean up hitter Kyleigh Burtsell (3-for-3 with a walk) to eventually make it 4-3.
“They were a little bit below us in the standings, but we knew they were a good team, Stevens coach Missy Nichols said. “We knew they were going to be tough and we knew they would hit. We made a few mistakes in the field, but we made the plays we had to.”
After Josie Aiken hit a long double in the bottom of the inning, Peaslee’s sacrifice fly scored her for a valuable insurance run because the Spartans scored twice more in the sixth inning, an RBI single from pitcher Eliza Carignan tying the game at 5-5. Aiken started a double play to end the top of the seventh and with the top of the batting order coming up, the Cardinals certainly liked their chances to end things.
“I knew they had the bottom of the order going into the seventh and we had the top,” Nichols said. “I knew if we could get them out, we would be O.K. I knew our top of the order would generate something.”
It took only two batters, as Bundy hit a hard single and then Frisbee followed with a long double that had game over written on it the instant it left her bat.
Stevens honored seniors Alexis Boisvert, Michelle Chambers, Frisbee, Peaslee, and Murray-Brown before the contest.
Pembroke actually outhit Stevens 9-6, and the Cardinals did commit four errors, but Herbert and her defense got some big outs when necessary. Frisbee and Aiken each had two hits to lead the Cardinal offense.
With three regular season games left, all on the road, Stevens has its sights set on a top-four seed in the upcoming NHIAA playoffs, meaning it would host a potential quarterfinal game.
“If we can keep winning, I think we can steal that fourth spot, and that would be huge,” Nichols said. “That’s our goal right now.”
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