HADLEY — The breeze blowing into the outfield gave the Hopkins Academy softball team a little wind beneath their wings against Smith Academy on Monday.
Playing on a different field than usual due to muddy conditions, Hopkins exploded for a 10-run third inning that included three home runs. By the end of the contest, the Golden Hawks had amassed four home runs from four different batters – Daisy Venditti, Maggie Potter, Taylor Barry and Kaelyn Zakaitis – to propel them to a 15-2 victory.
“When we went into our huddle and we spoke about the adjustments that needed to be made, they went ahead and they made them and they were hitting the ball,” Hopkins head coach Paula Cristoforo said of her team. “I think timing was off a little bit and then they were able to come back, adjust their timing, adjust where they were in the box and learn to go with the pitch instead of trying to just pull a pitch.”
Starting pitcher Cassie Dion earned the win, throwing four innings and striking out four batters. Closer Zakaitis came on for the top of the fifth and struck out all three batters she saw to secure the five-inning run-ruled win for Hopkins (9-2).
“I think when you see your teammates hitting and running around, it just brings up the momentum and everyone wants to do that,” Venditti said on the team’s third-inning offensive surge. “I think just seeing everyone else really hyped us up.”
Venditti got the team going to start off the top of the third, but the home team ended up working through their entire lineup once and very nearly getting through it a second time before the Falcons could slow their roll.
Laynie Bailey blasted a triple to get the scoring started, and then the home run-fest began, starting with a bomb from Potter that bumped the score to 7-2. With two outs on the board, Venditti and Barry hit back to back homers to make it 11-2, and Zakaitis whacked the fourth and final longball in the fourth inning when she came in to pinch hit for Dion.
Venditti’s home run was the first she’s hit at the varsity level, and her entire team came out to celebrate as she crossed home plate.
“I wouldn’t say I’m the strongest hitter but you just have to have confidence,” Venditti said. “I just tried to hit a level swing and I ran for my life…. it was great. It’s a good feeling, seeing your teammates there supporting you.”
Despite the lopsided score by the end of the game, the Falcons (1-9) held their own through the first two innings. It seemed at first as though the contest would be more of a chess match than a blowout. Though Hopkins scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the opening inning, Smith Academy answered with two runs of its own – Emilia Neves blasted a triple that drove in Jillian Lavallee, and then Neves plated off a hit from Keighly Gworek to make it 2-1 Falcons.
“We started off playing really clean. We weren’t throwing the ball around too much,” Smith Academy head coach Moira Pitrat said. “We were being smart with our base running decisions and capitalized on some opportunities we had.”
Things went south for Smith Academy in the third inning, but holding Hopkins to a pair of runs in the first two innings was no easy feat. Pitrat said she has noticed dramatic improvement from her team over the last few games, and she’s excited to get to face Hopkins again in a couple of weeks.
“Our pitcher has gotten a lot more solid, she’s improved drastically over the season, which has been great to see,” Pitrat said. “I think our hitting has improved overall, too. And we’ve started throwing it less than we need to… we’ve been holding back more which has been helpful.”
Smith Academy will travel to Franklin Tech for its next game on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and Hopkins will play Mahar on Wednesday at the same time.
Hannah Bevis can be reached at hbevis@gazettenet.com. Follow her on Twitter @Hannah_Bevis1.