Hubs KO another MVAL Antietam heavyweight

April 22, 2010|By JACK HILL III

In about a week's time, the North Hagerstown softball team has knocked off the two teams that were tied for first place in the MVAL Antietam.

After squeezing by Catoctin last Friday, the Hubs defeated Clear Spring 7-3 on Wednesday afternoon.

"We kept our focus for seven innings today and that helped us to pull the ballgame out," North Hagerstown coach Amanda Fleming said. "The offense was clutch today. We got runners on and we got a couple of hits to move them around and score them."

Shanan Plunkett had two hits and two RBIs to spark the North offense.

"We wanted to knock them off because they were tied for No. 1 in the conference," Plunkett said. "We kept that mentality from the beginning of the game."

Jenna Knable had three hits for the Blazers.

Clear Spring (10-2, 7-2) got on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning on a two-run single by Hannah Leizear.

North (7-5, 6-2) responded with three runs in the bottom of the first. Ragan Shaw led off with a single to center and Danielle Wissinger reached on a throwing error. Plunkett followed with a two-run triple to right, then scored on a throwing error to put the Hubs ahead 3-2.

The Hubs added two runs in the second on a RBI groundout by Shaw and an RBI single by Wissinger.

The Blazers reduced the deficit to 5-3 in the top of the fifth on a RBI infield single by Morgan Purdham.

The Hubs added single runs in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI triple by Allysen Breeden and in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Shaw.

The Blazers threatened to score when they loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the seventh. But North pitcher Rebecca Amalfitano retired the next three batters, including the final two on strikes, to get the complete-game win.

Clear Spring pitcher Morgan Purdham struck out eight in six innings.

"(Plunkett) made a couple of good defensive plays that robbed us of hits," Clear Spring coach Ron Baker said. "We did our best to pitch well, but North still hit the ball."

North Hagerstown 7, Clear Spring 3

Clear Spring 200 010 0 -- 3 10 4
North 320 011 x -- 7 7 1
M. Purdham and Leizear. Amalfitano and Breeden. WP -- Amalfitano (4-2). LP -- M. Purdham.

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