Sarah Erlandson | McClelland Miscellanea

Tag Archives: Sarah Erlandson

April 29, 2011 · 8:06 pm

Pitching and Defense Send Pentucket Softball Past Georgetown 6-1

Julianne Meehan gets some well-deserved congratulations from her Pentucket teammates.

Sarah Dickinson – two hits, two RBI, and two defensive gems

(Georgetown) Pentucket (4-3) erupted for five runs in the sixth inning and defeated Georgetown, 6-1, in a CAL league game on Friday afternoon.

The pitching of Pentucket’s Julianne Meehan and Georgetown’s Sarah Erlandson was impressive. About the only swatting was of the ever-friendly gnat population by everyone in attendance.

Julianne had eleven strikeouts while Sarah collected fifteen. Each pitcher allowed only four hits.

The difference between them was walks. Julianne gave up just one (in the first inning) while Sarah gave eight free passes.

A deadly combination of walks (4) and wild pitches (3) along with an error and two hits did in the Royals in the sixth inning. Sydney Snow and Colleen Jenkins were home on wild pitches before Sarah Dickinson’s single to left brought in two more. Sarah would score the fifth run on an error by Kassi Barba at third.

The tough part for the Royals was that all this happened with two outs.

Sarah Erlandson – 15 strikeouts for Georgetown

Georgetown (2-2) had trouble mounting any sort of attack against the Sachems because of Julianne’s pitching plus some extraordinary defense.

The Sachem centerfielder set the tone in the first inning by running in and snagging a low line drive by Taylor Nelson. If that ball gets by her, with two outs, the runner on base and possibly Taylor herself may have scored.

Later it was shortstop Sarah Dickinson’s chance to impress. She ended the fifth with a diving stop to her left of Amy Cronin’s base-hit-in-the-making and got up and made the play to first. She ended the 6th inning by again going left and taking a hit away from line-drive hitting Shannon O’Brien with a runner on.

Julianne closed things out in the seventh by fanning the side.

Georgetown got its only run in the fourth. What looked like bad running by Sarah Erlandson (who had doubled) turned into a run. After Shannon O’Brien struck out for the second out, Sarah broke for third. A good throw by catcher MK Corrado gets Sarah out easily but the throw sailed into left and Sarah scored.

Pentucket also picked up a run in the fourth. Second baseman Shannon Killian dropped Julieanne Meehan’s pop up and then the ball was thrown away (right to where I was sitting) and Julianne was awarded third. A wild pitch brought her home on a close play at the plate.

I was introduced to something called the “look back” rule. It led to Pentucket’s final out in the 6th inning. The drift of it seems to be that if the pitcher has the ball in the circle, a runner has to continue in the direction she’s going. Sounds like one of those dreaded judgment calls.

Shannon O’Brien – tripled to lead off the second inning

Shannon O’Brien led off the second with a triple for Georgetown to deep center but was stranded there.

Sarah Dickinson scored a run, had two hits including a double, and drove in a pair for Pentucket.

If you want to see a Georgetown softball game you have to be able to climb a hill.

(I collect my own stats and take my own pictures. Errors are unintentional.)

Sydney Snow slides home in the 6th on a wild pitch with Pentucket’s second run of the game.

Georgetown Softball Team Has Bright Future

2009 Georgetown softball team

April 13th was not an area holiday as far as I know but word is that there was plenty of celebrating on the Georgetown High School softball field that day.

The celebration at that spot was not a surprise when you learn that on that particular afternoon the Georgetown girls’ team ended a lengthy losing streak (dating back over two years) as they hammered visiting Rockport 14-1.

The Royals endured a winless (0-16) 2008-09 season with a team that included several eighth graders and no seniors. “It was tough,” was how 2nd year coach Julie Lamoly explained it to me before practice on April 27th.

But that winless team has gotten a year older and much better as three wins (at press time) will attest to. “That Rockport win was a great motivator,” said Coach Lamoly. “The kids knew that it was the starting point of better days.”

The team followed their first win with a similar result against Manchester-Essex. This time the slaughter/mercy rule went into effect against an opponent. “It was another hurdle for us to get over,” explained the 6th grade language arts teacher. “We were the ones in the past who were usually getting slaughtered.”

Even in their losses so far (five at press time) this season, the team has been competitive. “We had 2-1 losses to both Amesbury and Newburyport,” she said. “In the Newburyport game we had the bases loaded three times and didn’t score.”

The obvious question is, “What has caused the turnaround?”

Coaching is certainly a part of it. Most winless teams do not get together for another season unless they see, or someone convinces them of, a brighter future. “I took on coaching the team because I thought that I could be a motivator and an encourager,” said Coach Lamoly. “I figured that this was part of the help they needed and I believed that this could be a good team.”

Sophomore ace Sarah Erlandson prepares to let one fly.

Overly optimistic about the future? Probably not. You don’t have to attend many softball games to realize that pitching is a huge factor in a team’s chances. The Royals are blessed now, and in the future, to have the Erlandson sisters – sophomore Sarah on the varsity and 8th grader Jane on the JVs. These girls take their pitching seriously and are already quite good at it.

Sarah told me that she started playing softball in the Georgetown town leagues in the 3rd grade and thought it would be “fun” to pitch. “I had no idea what I was doing as far as pitching goes,” she recalled. She has come a long way since then.

She said that attending Amesbury softball coach Chris Perry’s summer camp has helped.

Also aiding her development has been spending an hour in Woburn on Saturdays getting pitching instructions from Bob Mahoney. “Two of his daughters pitched at Woburn High and in college and he knows a lot about pitching,” she said. “We always have something to work on.”

One of the things that Sarah is working on is a curve. “I throw mostly fastballs and changeups now,” she said. So far, those two pitches have gotten her numerous double-digit strikeout games, including fifteen in the April 13th win against Rockport. Mastering another pitch should add to the strikeout totals.

“Sarah is an up-and-coming star in this league,” bragged Coach Lamoly. “She has good speed and she has really worked on her accuracy. I think she’s the best pitcher we’ve seen when she’s accurate.”

Because there is no Division 4 in softball, Georgetown will not be able to qualify for the state tournament the way the Georgetown girls’ basketball team did via the Sullivan Rule. They will need to defeat some of the larger schools in the CAL to make it.

“Some big things are going to be happening with Georgetown softball over the new few seasons,” was Coach Lamoly’s insight into the future for her Royals. No question the longsuffering supporters of Georgetown softball will enjoy watching that future unfold.

( This story appeared in The Town Common on May 5th. )