By Adam Aucoin
THE RUTLAND HERALD
VERGENNES,Vt. — Patience. In high school softball, it can be tough for a team to wrap its head around the word. Those who do can find plenty of success.
The No. 2 seed Vergennes softball team was patient with its early approach at the plate against sixth-seeded Green Mountain and it paid off in a big way, as the Commodores cruised past the Chieftains 26-2 in the Division III semifinals Tuesday afternoon.
“Patience at the plate,” said Vergennes coach Travis Scribner said. “We hadn’t seen the pitchers down in that neck of the woods. The key to the game was to be patient the first couple innings and learn her timing and learn her pitches. We’ll adjust from there.”
Adjust they did.
The Commodores flexed those adjustments in the third inning where they broke the game open with an eight-run inning. Twelve batters came to bat in an inning Green Mountain struggled to get out of.
Vergennes only had four hits in the inning, but a mix of Chieftain errors and hustle plays by the Commodores coming home on fielder’s choice play extended the inning.
The big blasts of the third came on a double by No. 9 hitter Rory Couture and leadoff hitter Jasmine Little who blasted a ball to right that GM struggled to field, allowing her to come all the way around.
The fifth inning didn’t treat the Chieftains any better. Vergennes had loud contact all inning long and the line just kept moving. Eighteen batters came to the plate and nine of them had hits.
Nobody had a bigger inning than cleanup hitter Felicia Poirier, who hit two two-run home runs.
Poirier also had a two-RBI triple earlier in the game, going 4-for-6 with six RBIs. The hitting stars were plenty. Savannah Blaise had three hits and was a homer away from the cycle. Audrey Tenbruel, headed ton Westfield State to play softball, l had four hits and Little also had multiple hits.
“The top six girls in my lineup can and have hit any pitcher they’ve faced,” Scribner said. “The three best hitters in my lineup have combined for just 14 strikeouts. We have good hitters and we can hit a lot of good pitching.”
An old bugaboo for Green Mountain has been allowing the big inning that it can’t recover from. The Chieftains avoided that throughout the playoff run, but Tuesday was a different story.
“When we fall apart, the errors just keep coming and coming and coming,” said GM coach Matt Wilson. “They haven’t four of our last six games and that’s how we got here. Today, as soon as the first error happened, the wheels came off.”
Blaise, Vergennes’ pitcher, didn’t make the Chieftains’ job easy, shutting them down all game long. She had a no-hitter going into the sixth inning, where Rebecca Ortego found grass in left-center for the first of two Green Mountain hits in the game. The other came from Chloe Ayer in the seventh inning.
“Savannah is as consistent as they come,” Scribner said.
Vergennes (10-7) has a date with defending Division III champion Oxbow on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the D-III state championship game.
Green Mountain (9-8) loses just two seniors, Kim Cummings and Elizabeth Cavato. Cummings is a big loss, given her stellar stretches at first base and lightning quick speed on the basepaths.
“It’s going to be tough losing her,” Wilson said.
Green Mountain came a long way from the start of spring practices when five of its players were just learning the game. It came one game away from giving those newbies a chance at championship glory.
Followon Twitter: @AAucoin_RH
adam.aucoin @rutlandherald.com
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.