Rams get better of Cumberland
Two-out runs help La Salle earn home win over Clippers
PROVIDENCE – Making something happen with two outs in an inning proved to be La Salle’s best friend on Thursday.
The home team struck for two runs with two down in the first inning. In the fifth, two additional runs crossed the plate with Cumberland standing just one out away from getting back in the dugout with the score still tied.
Those four runs of the two- out variety enabled La Salle to grab a 7-4 win over a fellow Division I contender. The Rams (8-2) pounded out 14 hits compared to just six for the Clippers (6-3), who scored all their runs courtesy of a mammoth three-run home run by senior Maddi Leite.
“Our kids fought hard and we had the right attitude,” CHS head coach Marty Crowley said. “Maddi hit a bomb to get us back into it after we got down 3-0.
“We had a lot of good at-bats today, but now it’s behind us. We just need to do things a little bit better the next time and hopefully we get that next time in the playoffs.”
Already up 1-0 in the first, La Salle was in prime position to strike for more with the bases loaded and two down. The bottom of the lineup came through for the Rams as the team’s No. 7 batter, Jayme DeCesare, lined a shot that deflected off the glove of Cumberland pitcher Jocelyn Bodington and into center field. A run scored to make it 2-0.
ACumberland error on a ball hit by La Salle’s No. 8 hitter, Molly Morales, capped off a three-run uprising that saw the Rams send nine to the plate and collect five hits.
The Clippers’ offense remained stuck in neutral until the third inning. Still down 3-0, Cumberland had something cooking as Kailey Brodeur and Miranda Veilu opened the frame with back-to-back singles.
La Salle starting pitcher Gabrielle Conca retired the next two but still needed to retire Leite to completely extinguish the threat. Jumping all over the first pitch, Leite crushed a no-doubter for a home run that tied the score at 3-3.
“Maddi is one of the best hitters in the state,” Crowley said. “She worked so hard on her game in the offseason and that showed today. She got a pitch that she could drive and she drove it.”
Cumberland took a 4-3 lead in the fourth on a RBI single by catcher Emily Anderson that scored Katharine Calabro, who reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
The lead didn’t last long. With two on and no outs for La Salle in the fourth, Gabriella DeLuca delivered a single that forced yet another stalemate, this one at 4-4.
Bodington and the Clippers appeared on the verge of getting out of yet another tight jam in the fifth. She struck out La Salle catcher River Glenn for the second out, thus leaving it to leadoff batter and freshman Kayla Baptista to make something happen with runners on first and second.
Baptista sent a shot into the right-center field gap that rolled all the way to the fence. Now up 5-4, the Rams added another run when Conca was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
La Salle’s Madison Nicynski delivered a two-strike solo home run in the sixth, a blast that cleared the snow fence by about a yard. The three-run cushion was more than enough for Conca, who retired six straight to end the game after issuing a walk to Leite to begin the sixth inning. Conca finished with one strikeout and one walk. “She threw the ball well,” Crowley. “She’s a gamer.” Cumberland’s Bodington had six strikeouts compared to three walks.
“I think there’s five or six teams within shouting distance of one another,” Crowley said when asked to assess the Division I landscape as it presently stands. “It’s going to come down to who’s playing hot down the stretch and hopefully we’re one of those teams.”