Blanchette, L-S shrug off long delay, Silver Lake
>> After a 54-minute delay due to a sprinkler flooding the mound/infield dirt and an extra frame, Lincoln-Sudbury did just enough to take down a tough Silver Lake squad during nonleague softball action.
Junior Sarah Danielson delivered an RBI hit to third to send home junior Kelsey Blanchette to lift the Warriors over the Lakers 2-1 in eight frames on the road.
“That was a gritty team win for sure,” said Lincoln-Sudbury coach Devan Morrison. “We’ve been talking about the last few days that when we play good teams that we’ve got to do it together. It’s not one person who can get it done. We knew coming down to the South Shore that it would be a battle.”
With no one out in the eighth, Blanchette delivered a single to center and reached second on a wild pitch a couple pitches later. Danielson, after a sacrifice bunt for Ashliegh Lent, then lined a 1-1 pitch under the third baseman’s glove to give Lincoln-Sudbury (5-0) the 2-1 advantage.
“Danielson has a lot of power and she’s come through time and time again for us,” Morrison said about the clutch knock in the eighth. “For her to come up with a runner on third and put a ball in play was huge.”
Blanchette then finished it off in style by retiring the side in order as she set down the final 10 Silver Lake batters she faced for the no-hitter.
“You want the ball in (Blanchette’s) hand and she’s a kid that’s going to stay in the zone, but also stays loose in the dugout. She’s crafty when she gets in the circle and every batter she faces is her next project,” Morrison said.
The junior struck out 13 while working around six walks and a hit batter, including catching a line drive that she threw to first for a double play to end the fourth.
“My mentality kind of stayed the same,” Blanchette said about coming back to pitch after the long delay. “It was pretty much a fresh game because it was 1-1 at that point and so
I kind of just went in with the same approach. I was working in and out and up and down. I just kept mixing it up and it worked.”
“It’s nice because my team is supporting me the whole time,” said Blanchette about completing the no-hitter.
The Warriors got their first run in the top of the second as they loaded the bases against junior Delaney Moquin with a double by Danielson and walks to Sophie Jorjorian and Grace Messina. A Moquin wild pitch allowed Danielson to score from third to make it 1-0 Lincoln-Sudbury.
Silver Lake (3-2) knotted the score in the bottom of the third as senior captain Sam Waters drew a one-out walk. Two pitches later, she reached second base and an errant throw from the catcher to center field allowed Water to score from second to make it 1-1.
Moquin retired the side in four of the eight frames and finished with 14 strikeouts while getting out of a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the fifth.