Tewksbury defeated by Central
TEWKSBURY » The Tewksbury High softball team was in uncharted territory.
Ahead of their Thursday afternoon matchup with MVC foe Central Catholic, the Redmen were outscoring their opponents 86-18 en route to a potent 6-1 start.
So it was an early-season first when they found themselves eyeing a 9-0 deficit in the fifth inning. While it would have been easy to fold against the perennial Div. 1 power, Tewksbury never stopped battling at Hazel Field in a 9-6 defeat that produced a fiverun fifth inning with their backs against the wall.
“We haven’t had that happen yet this year,” said Redmen head coach Brittany Souza. “Every game has either been super close or a blowout (win).”
Aislin Davis and Avery Della Piana each plated two runners in an explosive fifth stanza, but the late-game effort wasn’t enough for Tewksbury (6-2) to catch up to the unbeaten Red Raiders (4-0).
“Lots of credit to Tewksbury,” said Central Catholic head coach Stacy Ciccolo. “I thought they were much tougher than us. They really battled at the plate in ways we weren’t able to because they hit the ball hard, where we started popping up.”
Tewksbury may have fought harder at the end, but it was all Central in the early innings.
The visitors scored five runs in the first two frames, highlighted by Olivia Moeckel’s threerun blast to center field to give the Red Raiders a quick 3-0 advantage. The Fairfield University commit was 2-for-3 at the plate, also ripping a two-run double in the fourth to headline Central’s dangerous lineup.
“I was just looking for something I knew I could hit,” Moeckel said of her three-run homer. “It was the first pitch of the at-bat, and I thought it was a good pitch, so I just swung at it.”
The Central offense didn’t stop there, capitalizing on a slew of four Tewksbury errors to build on their lead. Bella Boyer (3-for4) and Caitlin Milner (2-for-4) supplemented the Red Raider attack.
“We had a good pregame warmup,” said Souza. “Maybe harder hit balls than what we’re used to. It looked to me like we were moving too soon. We were trying to make the next play before we had possession of the ball.”
Whitney Gigante totaled five strikeouts in seven innings in the circle for Tewksbury.
“Whitney did a really good job keeping their bats under control,” said Souza. “We just gave them extra outs every inning, and you can’t have a strong lineup like that getting five at-bats in a game.”
As Tewksbury made it hard on itself in the field, Central’s Julia Malowitz did her job on the mound. The Redmen notched just one hit through the first four stanzas. But that all changed in the fifth.
Anya Cranston singled and Erin Costello drew a walk, and just like that, Tewksbury had a pair of baserunners with three outs to work with. Davis, Tower, Gigante, and Della Piana all pelted hits in the inning to give Tewksbury some life.
“That’s the one thing I was super happy our kids did, is they just didn’t give up,” said Souza. “We kept saying to just show our grit as we’ve been having a great approach at the plate, and it will pay off. They just needed to break it open.”
Adams drove in another runner in the seventh, but it was too late for the Redmen
to materialize a comeback. Until then, Souza and her squad have May 15 and a rematch circled on their calendar.
“In years past, we only played them once,” said Souza. “Now we get them again, so hopefully, we can clean those little things up and have a better softball game for seven innings.”