TROY HIGH SOFTBALL POWERS PAST SPARTANS
Even with Hunter Levesque in the circle Horses find a way to win
BURNT HILLS, N.Y. » Burnt HillsBallston Lake Coach Gary Holtz wanted to see Troy High pitcher Hunter Levesque before the Spartans were scheduled to face the Flying Horses in league play to prepare his squad Monday afternoon in a non-league tilt.
Seeing Levesque in the circle may have been too much of a good thing as the University of Pittsburgh commit did everything else as the Flying Horses dropped the Spartans, 11-9 on the road Monday afternoon.
Levesque tied the contest at six runs each in the top of the fourth after walking and was batted around, tagging up on a delayed run to home after the fielder caught a fly in right field. She then roped a two-run double to put Troy ahead, 9-8 in the fifth inning, scoring on a passed ball.
She then snared a sharp line drive just inches above the ground to end a Burnt Hills bases leaded threat in the sixth inning.
“We wanted to see Hunter (Levesque), we want to see that pitching and next Tuesday we’ve scheduled Columbia non-league we want to see (Maddie) Burns,” Holtz said. “We may not see her, that’s up to those guys.”
Without Levesque in the circle, Serafina French got stronger as the game went on, saving her best for last in the seventh inning after surviving the nail-biting sixth and Levesque’s diving save. A thrill to watch, but it was frustrating for Holtz.
“In the sixth inning we had two kind of feeble outs and then
we hit four shots in a row, bases loaded and Levesque made the great play that saved two runs on the dive up the middle,” Holtz said. “Those were four rockets.
“So we swung the bats O.K. what I tell the kids is ‘Offense is inconsistent if you bat .350 you’re failing 65 percent of the time, you got to play defense consistently. You have to. Don’t walk people, play defense and you can stay in games and we didn’t play defense, I think we had six errors.”
French earned the win giving up nine runs on 11 hits, with only three runs being charged to her. She walked three and struck out eight.
Troy was also powered by Jill Picarillo’s three-run home run off Burnt Hills starter Morgan Skpowski and a solo home run by Kaitlyn Dinardo in the fifth for the 11-9 lead.
“I was thinking stay outside, but I threw a screwball a couple of times and a couple of the better hitters were inside, I pitched away from a couple of the ones that I knew could hit,” Morgan Skpowski said.
Monday was a return to the circle after a bone break tore a tendon in her right finger sidelined her from gripping the ball.
“I had trouble when it was broken bending it, the bone would pop back out,” Skpowski said. “It was either surgery or wear the brace, so I wore the brace to be back sooner. Its effects the feel of the ball, you have to have a strong grip and this is a major finger to grip with.”
A few pitching errors cost Skpowski some runs and she has been on both sides of the errors in the field.
“(As a pitcher) I have to not show it, but I get it too,” Skpowski said. “I’m in the field and I make errors sometimes and pitchers are pitching. I see both sides of it.
“At short, I make an error and I feel the same way they do. Everyone makes errors, you just have to deal with it, pick yourself up.”
Troy High’s first day of the Easter break wasn’t complete after the win, the Flying Horses jumped into their yellow chariot and returned to the school taking on Ballston Spa in a make-up Suburban Council contest in the afternoon.
Ballston Spa saw Levesque, earning an 8-2 win. Levesque gave up three runs, two of them earned, over six and athird innings on seven hits. She walked one batter and struck out six. She also went 2-for-4 at the plate and hit a solo home run.