Saunders sensational
Pitcher strikes out 15 as Stamford rolls past rival Greenwich
STAMFORD — Stamford softball pitcher Kim Saunders was nearly perfect.
In fact, if it were not for a fellow GameTimeCT Top 25 Player to Watch in Connecticut, she would have been.
The only blemishes on Saunders day came on a walk and home run to Greenwich catcher Olivia McClammy.
Otherwise it was all Saunders, who struck out 15 while facing just 20 batters over 6 innings of work as Stamford beat Greenwich 14-1 in 6 innings Tuesday afternoon.
“I felt confident. We have been working really hard in practice and I know that I have a team to back me up,” Saunders said. “After the Ludlowe game, I knew (I) needed to make sure (I) was hitting the corners. Today, I made sure I was hitting those corners every pitch.”
With Saunders dealing, the Stamford offense backed her with 16 hits, ending the game in the bottom of the sixth via the mercy rule.
Cassie Robotti led off the bottom of the first with a line-drive home run to left. Stamford would go up 2-0 after one on a sacrifice fly by Sarah Wargo, scoring Samantha Albert.
Greenwich would cut the lead to 2-1 in the fourth on a long-opposite-field home run by McClammy in what would wind up being Greenwich’s only hit.
Stamford went on to score five in the bottom of the fourth, three in the fifth and four more in the sixth, ending the game.
The innings were prolonged by several Greenwich errors.
“The errors kill us,” Greenwich coach Mary Beth Fratello said. “When we played Staples Saturday, we had two errors. There is nothing I can do about that. Teams are going to hit us.
Can take the hits and them scoring runs but when we are letting up 14 runs it’s because we made six errors. That’s when I have a problem.”
Robotti was 2-for-4 with the home run and a runscoring double, also scoring twice; Christine Zinincola scored three runs and drove in one with two hits and Theresa DiBlasio drove n three runs, scoring twice.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Kim Saunders, Stamford. The first 10 outs recorded by Saunders all came via strikeout with McClammy’s first-inning walk mixed in. No balls left the infield other than the home run with the other three outs of the game recorded by Stamford infielders.
QUOTABLE
“Kim came out ready to go,” Stamford coach Melissa Giordano said. “I don’t think she let our first game affect her. She started all over and was back at work today. Striking out the first nine outs is not too shabby. We are starting to put things together and play as a team.”