Nicole Small | McClelland Miscellanea

Concord-Carlisle catcher Virgina Ryan had a huge day for the Patriots with two HRs and 6 RBI

Emma DiPietro tagged out at 2B by Emma Della Volpe

(Amesbury MA) Three days don’t make a season but the last three have been a disaster for the Amesbury Indians softball team.

I checked in (late) to the final of the three games this morning and saw Amesbury lose, 9-2, to Concord-Carlisle.

Trusting Mascores to have the right starting time cost me. They said 11AM but the game started at 10AM.

Looking for a game story? This wouldn’t be your place but I do have pictures and some general commentary.

The loss today was the Indians (14-6) third loss in three days. Lest you think that Division 3 Amesbury has run out of steam late in the season, you need to check the caliber of the final trio: Andover (Division 1), Whittier (17-2), and Concord-Carlisle (Division 1, 17-2).

Alyssa Attonito avoids Maddie Napoli’s tag at 2B

The season now moves into the “one-loss-and-done” tournament section.

Nicole Small went the distance for the Patriots giving up six hits and striking out five Indians.

Virgina Ryan finishes her first inside-the-park homer in today’s game

Catcher Virginia Ryan was the hitting hero for the visitors. I saw her hit two home runs. She ended up with six RBI.

On one of Virginia’s at-bats, she had a loud foul down the leftfield line before, several pitches later, lining a 3-run homer to right over Brigid Ramsden’s head.

In the Amesbury fifth, Sage Dodier singled and was replaced by pinchrunner Abby Aponas. That move paid off as the speedy Abby scored on Alli Napoli’s double.

Junior Caity Baker had a solo homer to left center for the home team in the sixth.

Perry Field is fenceless therefore to hit a homer requires a pretty good belt. CC had their outfielders playing shallow which explained Caity’s home run. Amesbury, however, was positioned much deeper so the two Virgina Ryan HRs were extremely well hit and would have left most fenced fields.

SS Maddie Napoli makes a great stop to force Maeve Devlin at 3B

Amesbury’s three seniors (Mikayla Porcaro, Brigid Ramsden, Maddie Napoli) were honored before the game……I am told. Mikayla will be at Salem State next year. Maddie is going to UMass Amherst.

Shortstop/Pitcher Emma Della Volpe will attend Tufts this fall.

The tournament placements come out on Tuesday. Those final three losses could cost Amesbury a home game. However, facing strong non-league opponents is a great way to get ready for good teams ahead in the tournament.

Any plans the Indians have to get to the state semifinals in Division 3 will certainly mean getting by either 17-2 Whittier and/or perennial powerhouse St. Mary’s. Tough road for sure but successes in soccer and basketball this school year might make a difference in the big games ahead.

Concord-Carlisle is a tourney regular. No state titles yet for the softball team but they’ve been close a number of times. The Patriots have plenty of pitching as well as power. Defensively, they are well-schooled. I never saw a throw anywhere that wasn’t backed up.

(All pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Caity Baker

Caity Baker finishes trip around the bases

Ball falls in front of LF Caitlyn Lewis

AHS seniors honored

2B Jill Chelton

Emma DiPietro and Emma Della Volpe

Emma DiPietro tries for 3B

young fan

CF Catherine Kingman

Alli Napoli

Abby Aponas scores the first AHS run

Virginia Ryan slides home safely

Amesbury pitcher Hayley Catania looks for the ball at home in a cloud of Jill Chelton dust

2B Lauren Fedorchak looks for the handle in the first inning

(Amesbury MA) Amesbury had three errors and a wild pitch in the first inning and never recovered from the consequences losing, 7-5, to nonleague Concord-Carlisle on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Giving up four unearned runs early to a very good Division One opponent was asking for trouble.

Division Two Amesbury (6-2), despite the defensive start, came out swinging early and often and had home runs (Zoe Fitzgerald, Megan Reid) in the first two innings off CC starter Haley McMorrow.

Zoe Fitzgerald congratulated after first inning homer

The Patriots (6-3) allowed Amesbury to close to 6-5 in the fifth when they had a defensive nightmare of an inning similar to Amesbury’s in the first. Haley McMorrow, however, was able to end the 5^th by getting Maddie Napoli to fly to right with the tying run on second.

Sophomore Catherine Kingman enabled CC to gain two-run separation in the next inning by whacking a home run over CF Megan Reid’s head. Reliever Nicole Small then came on for Concord-Carlisle and, after giving up a single to the first batter she faced (Caity Baker), retired the last six Indians to seal the deal for the visitors.

Catcher Virginia Ryan puts an end to the AHS second

Good crowd on hand and why not with sunshine and temperatures in the 60’s.

Without any outfield fences there was nothing cheap about today’s home runs by Zoe Fitzgerald, Megan Reid, and Catherine Kingman.

Both teams had three errors and both teams bunched them into one inning.

In the Concord-Carlisle first, Emma Della-Volpe reached on 2B Lauren Fedorchak’s bobble. Catherine Kingman flied out and then Scout Boynton got first on 1B Zoe Fitzgerald’s drop. So instead of three outs, CC had a run in and a runner on base. Another chance for an out (fly ball to LF Emily Robinson) was dropped and two more runs crossed. A wild pitch by AHS starter Haley Catania allowed CC’s 4^th run. (Note picture above.)

Virginia Ryan slides the ball and glove loose from Amesbury catcher Caity Baker in the Concord-Carlisle first

There was a point in the first inning when the Patriots had three runs in and AHS catcher Caity Baker in serious pain at home plate after trying to tag out Virginia Ryan.

Things did get better for the home team as they came out swinging with two homers in the next two innings and their defense got better.

AHS starter Hayley Catania allowed just five hits but had eight walks. Those walks added base runners and helped CC to get single runs in the 3^rd and 4^th innings.

Ball goes through shortstop Scout Boynton in the 3-run Amesbury 4th inning

Trailing 6-2, the Indians cashed three runs in their fourth all unearned. The elusive second out was dropped first by LF Audrey McKennitt and later went through the legs of shortstop Scout Boynton. The outfield drop produced a run. Then with two outs, Lauren Fedorchak’s high infield popup got into the sun for SS Scout Boynton and deflected off her glove for two more Indians runs.

Memorable sequences:

In the fourth inning Scout Boynton was on third with one out. On a line drive to right she did not tag up and try to score. The next batter made the third out.
In the second inning, after Megan Reid had homered, Caity Baker tripled. Good relay by CC forced third base coach Jim Hounam to hold Caity at third. Starter Haley McMorrow then retired three straight and Amesbury was only able to get one run out of a very promising inning.

Emma Della-Volpe

Concord-Carlisle is from the Dual County League and have been a powerhouse in that league the same way Amesbury has been in the Cape Ann League.

There will be a rematch between the two teams on Saturday May 21^st at Concord.

Emma Della-Volpe was the co-MVP of the Dual County League in 2015. She was 8-1 with 105 K’s in 97 innings pitched. Amesbury can be thankful that CC’s four games in six days kept her away from them this time.

Amesbury will be facing Lynnfield on the road on Monday afternoon. The Patriots visit Bedford tomorrow afternoon.

Modern equipment: You watch football and see armbands. Now softball teams have them. They have numbers on them and coaches use them for offensive and defensive situations. So a coach yells out a number and all the players look at their armbands. It will be very hard to miss a signal under this arrangement!

One coach in my (very) distant past would yell things like, “This is your existential moment.” He taught philosophy.

It was good to see Augie the Amesbury mascot on hand.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)