O’Reilly pitches Saints to victory
SARATOGA, N.Y. » Saratoga Catholic, led by Molly O’Reilly’s strong pitching outing, took the a 4-3 nonleague win over Whitehall Thursday.
The team’s Wasaren League game against Hoosick Falls was not completed by press time.
The Saints were able to push ahead in the first inning by working counts and getting timely hits.
The inning started with Julia Murdick failing behind in the count 0-2 and then hitting a double to put her team on the base. Sabrina Johnson stepped up and got hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. The next two batters, O’Reilly and Victoria Alvord both took walks to give the Saints their first run of the game. Theresa Hajos pushed the next run across the plate when she was
hit by a pitch and Brigid Perry walked with the bases loaded to put the Saints up 3-0 early on.
Saratoga Catholic’s bats remained quiet until the fourth inning, when the team pushed a run across the plate to make it 4-2.
The inning ended early thanks to a base running mistake, however. With Murdick on third, Alvord hit an RBI grounder to the infield. Murdick was able to run home but Alvord was thrown out easily at second to end the threat. The top of the seventh saw O’Reilly face three batters. Two to pop outs to third and one back to her ended the game. O’Reilly allowed seven hits and three runs in seven innings, while striking out four, hitting one batter and walking two.
Saratoga Catholic assistant coach Brett Simpson said O’Reilly has started strong in her first varsity season. “What is incredible is our pitcher is actually an eighth grader,” Simpson said. “It is her first time on varsity, her third or fourth game pitching, and she pitched a heck of a game. We can count on her, we can go fast ball with her all the time and it is tough for our opponents to keep up. She did well, the catcher did well, great job communicating, and the field backed her up.”
Simpson filled in for head coach Dan Masi, who could not attend the game because of a personal matter.
O’Reilly was helped out by her defense, which made solid plays in the field to stop runs from crossing the plate.
“Playing well in the field has been a big thing for us this year,” Simpson said. “We started out struggling in the field, but it has gotten better as the season has progressed, giving our pitchers confidence that their defense will back them up.” Simpson said the O’Reilly’s ability to keep runners off base and limit the damage was huge for the team in such a tight game. “You need your pitcher to stay confident and that gives us confidence at the plate too knowing that our pitcher is going to back us up no matter what,” Simpson said. “She pitched a heck of a game and hopefully she stays hot moving forward.”