Sports

Until the Wheels Fell Off: Young Cardinals Stumble, Fall to Kingswood 13-4

By Ray Curren
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — With three freshman starters, including the pitcher and catcher, the future looks very bright for the Stevens softball team.

For five innings on Saturday afternoon, the present looked pretty good as well, as the Cardinals were six outs away from the NHIAA Division II Semifinals. But, unfortunately for them, things unraveled as fifth-seeded Kingswood exploded for 11 runs — nine of them unearned — in its final two at-bats in a 13-4 Quarterfinal victory at Veterans Park.

The score did not tell most of the story, which saw No. 4 Stevens (15-4) hit hard-throwing sophomore Morgyn Stevens well all day, and lead 4-2 going into the sixth, before the proverbial wheels fell off for the young Cardinals.

“Anybody that wasn’t here is going to think it wasn’t a close game, but it could have been anybody’s game until that snafu we had in the last inning,” Stevens coach Missy Nichols said. “I know it seems weird to say because you’d think the butterflies would be gone by the sixth and seventh inning, but we had a couple young ones with some nerves and I think it showed. They caught up to Mia (Herbert) a little in the end, but we hit the ball well, too, against a good pitcher all day.”

Kingswood (14-4) struck first off Herbert in the third inning as Carly Johnson delivered a two-out, two-run double. An error earlier in the frame made the runs unearned, in all 11 of the Knights’ 13 runs on the day would score that way.

Stevens answered immediately in their half of the third. Freshman Brianna Marsh led off with a bunt single, followed by a hard-hit single by Kiley Bundy (three hits) and then a crushed three-run homer by senior Bri Frisbee to give her team the lead. Freshman Zoie Stevens followed with a triple and scored on a Josie Aiken ground-out to put Stevens up 4-2.

Despite not recording many strikeouts (she had 12 in Kingswood’s first-round win Wednesday, but only five Saturday), Morgyn Stevens settled in, retiring 12 of the next 13 Cardinal hitters. But Herbert faced little danger in the fourth or fifth as well, meaning Stevens still had a 4-2 lead heading to the sixth.

Johnson led off with a single then scored on an error and wild pitch to make it 4-3, back-to-back walks and another error allowed Kingswood to tie it, then Adriane Tevez’s two-out RBI single gave the Knights the lead they would not relinquish.

Kingswood scored eight times in the seventh to break the game open, all of them coming with two outs and all of them unearned. A streak of four straight hits was capped by a Morgyn Stevens three-run home run that finally finished the scoring. In all, Stevens committed six errors (five in the final two innings), while the Knights had none. Morgyn Stevens struck out just five, but did not walk a batter. In addition to Bundy’s three hits, Zoie Stevens had two for the Cardinals.

“We were certainly on the ropes a little bit, but you can never give up,” Kingswood coach Mike Shaw said. “We know we’re a good team. They definitely hit her (Morgyn Stevens) more than we thought they would. She’s been averaging 12 Ks a game. The seventh inning, obviously, was a great one for us. We hadn’t seen them this year and their pitcher (Herbert) was very strong for a freshman. Looks like the whole town of Claremont showed up today also, so I think the crowd made us a little nervous at the beginning.”

While Kingswood advances to take on top-seeded Coe-Brown Wednesday night in the Semifinals Wednesday night in Plymouth, the Stevens careers of Frisbie, Emily Peaslee, Mackenzie Brown (who had a couple of big plays early in left field), and Alexis Boisvert come to an end.

But with Herbert and Zoie Stevens leading the way as the battery and the Cardinals entering Division III starting next spring, they should begin 2023 among the state title contenders once again.

“We really have a lot of people coming back. Josie will be a senior. Pitcher, catcher, and center field were all freshmen. Shortstop Kiley, Elise Smith has played some infield and can step right in,” Nichols said. “We’re going to be fine and a lot of young kids got great hitting experience this season. Hopefully they keep getting better this summer and we’ll come back and give Division III a battle.”

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