Villa Novans too much for Wizards
Forcier pitches complete game to lead Woonsocket in blowout
WEST WARWICK — In the past, showdowns on the softball diamond between West Warwick and Woonsocket fell under the category of Division II contests, but now, both have moved up to D-I as part of the RIIL’s realignment.
The transition has been a difficult one for both the Villa Novans and the Wizards, making Thursday’s meeting at Amby Smith Field somewhat of a welcome relief on each end.
Visiting Woonsocket, led by starting pitcher Lundyn Forcier, got the best of the Wizards this time around, prevailing 10-1 to earn its third victory.
Forcier pitched a complete game, allowing just one run while striking out eight batters. Coach Dani Belisle was glad to see his starting pitcher’s efforts rewarded.
“She’s been getter better, game by game. She’s had some tough-luck losses. It was nice (that) we hit for her,” he said.
Woonsocket, now 3-12, plated a pair of runs in the first and never looked back, slowly but effectively increasing their lead throughout the game.
“We haven’t alway swung the bats consistently, but today we did,” Belisle said.
Alexis Field started in the cicrle for the Wizards and would wind up throwing the first five frames before freshman McKenzi Swanson took over for the final two.
Field would hold the visitors scoreless in both the second and fourth innings, but ran into trouble during other stretches of play.
A bases-loaded walk issued to Madison Thibodeau with one out in the third made it 3-0, but West Warwick escaped further damage by retiring the next two hitters.
In the fifth, the visitors doubled their lead thanks to a two-run single to left off the bat of co-captain Christina Lussier, followed up by an RBI double off the bat of catcher Madison Hereth, making it 6-0.
The Wizards plated their lone runin the bottom half of the frame when jun- ior Genesis Morillo drove home Caitlin Gamelin on a double to right after Gamelin led the inning off with a single three batters earlier.
It would be Forcier’s only misstep of the afternoon, as she settled down from there to keep the Wizards at bay.
Errors in the field committed by the home team, combined with some timely hitting by Woonsocket turned the game into a one-sided affair late. Lussier added an RBI groundout in the sixth, while shortstop Holly Letourneau drove home a run in the seventh as part of a two-run frame.
Success at the plate early on in the game is what Belisle attributed his team’s victory to in part.
“When you have the lead, you have that confidence, so you could tell that we had that confidence up at the plate today,” he said.
On the other end of the field, while the final score was not a competitive one, West Warwick coach Brian Palazzo is glad to finally see his team playing teams closer to their level.
“You can see that when we play teams that are a little more on our level, we can kind of hold our own for a while,” he said, but added that the Novans were definitely the better of the two clubs on this particular day.
Now 0-14, the Wizards are headed down the final stretch of the regular season, and hope at the very least, to cap their year on a winning note.
“These last couple of games, Tolman the other day, Woonsocket, Toll Gate are the three games that we’re hoping we can play seven innings in and stay in the game as long as possible,” Palazzo said.
On Tuesday, the Wizards dropped an 8-0 decision to Tolman, but like Thursday’s defeat, each game went the distance, which he views as a step in the right direction.
“It happened both Tuesday and today,” he said.
He is hoping that a win on the scoreboard can show his players the progress they have made.
“Let them see that they have improved. It’s tough to see when you’re playing top competition game after game, but when you play teams that are a little closer to our level, they can see that they’ve definitely gotten better defensively, their at-bats are getting a little better,” he said.
The Wizards will host Exeter/West Greenwich in a non-league contest on Saturday at 7 p.m. while Woonsocket returns to the diamond Tuesday when they host Moses Brown at 4:30.