LONGMEADOW – After a line drive hit Easthampton pitcher Rosie Follet in the knee and took her out of Monday’s game against Greenfield, her Tuesday start was in doubt.
“Going into [Tuesday’s] game — I hadn’t talked to her all day — I was planning on not having her,” said Easthampton head coach Corey Robinson.
Yet, his star pitcher was ultimately available to pitch in a road game at Longmeadow.
“I saw her on the bus — she said she’s good to go,” Robinson said. “My words to the man upstairs paid off.”
Coming off Monday’s injury, Follet turned in a spectacular performance, as she struck out 12 batters in a complete-game, three-hit shutout to secure a 10-0 victory over the Lancers. With the bat, she smacked a go-ahead, two-run triple in the fourth inning that got the Easthampton offense moving in the right direction.
“I was a little nervous, but I was feeling pretty confident — trying to get [the injury] out of my mind to come out here and pitch,” Follet said.
The game began as an offensive struggle for both teams. The Eagles went 1-2-3 in each of their first two innings, and had just one batter reach base in the third. Meanwhile, Follet struck out six batters in the first three innings while allowing just two base runners.
In the top of the fourth, Haley Routhier and Jessica Cloutier singled to put runners on first and second with no outs. That was when the Eagles’ ace barreled a ball down the left field line past the Longmeadow left fielder. The day after she was hit in the knee with a scorching line drive, she legged out a two-run triple to put Easthampton up 2-0. An RBI single was added to extend the lead to 3-0.
Follet completed her already-impressive inning by striking out the side in the fourth to give her nine strikeouts at that point.
In the top of the fifth, Lauren Morse jump-started a two-out rally with a triple over the right fielder’s head, and was then driven in by Cloutier to make it 4-0.
The Eagles broke the game open in the next frame thanks a more significant two-out rally. After Christine Raymond and Ana Growhowski singled and advanced to put themselves on second and third base, Abigail McClafin drove them in on a single up the middle. After Routhier and Morse walked, the bases were loaded for Cloutier.
She hit a hard ground ball to third base, and the third baseman gathered it cleanly. However, her throw sailed too far to the first baseman’s right and the ball rolled far, but not out of play. As the third runner scored, Cloutier was bolting for third. An errant throw allowed her to score on a Little League grand slam to make it 10-0.
Overall, Robinson was satisfied with the offensive turnaround from the first three innings to the last four.
“After facing [Greenfield pitcher] MacKenzie Paulin last night — who’s a phenomenal pitcher, throws in the high 50s — we had to come back — and, [Longmeadow pitcher McKenna Williams] threw strikes, but she was probably 10-15 miles per hour slower,” Robinson said. “Our girls were way out ahead of the ball. I told them, ‘you got to take the approach of going the other way, and stay on the ball a little bit longer.” And they did — they made the adjustments.”
Easthampton improved to 5-2 on the year with the win and will look to keep it rolling at Pittsfield on Friday.
Granby 20, Pope Francis 7 – One day after Ella Laliberte tallied a whopping 13 goals for the Rams, teammate Gabby Walz torched the back of the Pope Francis net for 11 goals in Tuesday’s dominant victory in Chicopee.
Ari Klekotka talled five goals in the win for Granby, while Laliberte netted a hat trick and dished out five assists. Kayla Klekotka rounded out the goal scorers for the Rams, and teammate Kelly Lynne Kennedy added two assists.
Granby goalie Liberty Conlin stopped 17 of the 24 shots she faced in net.
West Springfield 17, Northampton 1 — Connor Tobin scored the lone Blue Devil goal off an assist from Jack Carpenter in a 17-1 loss to the Terriers on Tuesday.
Liam Pouliot tallied five goals for West Springfield.
Putnam 3, Belchertown 0 — Connor White put down eight kills in the Orioles 25-19, 26-24, 25-20 loss to the Beavers on Tuesday in Belchertown.
Gabriel Ibekilo tallied six kills, Ty Bogdanovich had four kills and six aces and Rainer Kristensen dished eight assists and added three aces in the loss.