Tag Archives: Shannon Brunault

May 24, 2011 · 9:15 pm

Newburyport Downs Ipswich 7-0 to Win 14th

Taylor Summit, Beth Castantini, and Kendra Dow are all smiles after Win #14.

(Newburyport) The Newburyport Clippers (14-3) are on a big-time roll.

On the last regular-season home game, the Clippers defeated Ipswich, 7-0, on surprisingly warm (for spring 2011) Tuesday afternoon at Cashman Park.

The red-hot Clippers have won eleven of their last twelve games and now get to play Amesbury (Wednesday at Amesbury) and sort out which of them is the best team in Division 2 in the Cape Ann League. Amesbury won the first meeting, 10-9, at Cashman Park.

The loss eliminated Ipswich (7-11) from any chance of making the post-season. In this one the Tigers did themselves in early in the field and didn’t have the hitting against Beth Castantini (four hitter with eight K’s) to recover as the innings went by.

Liz Glavin – Tiger slugger was intentionally walked twice.

A key piece of strategy kept Tiger Liz Glavin (CAL’s most dangerous hitter?) from hurting the Clippers. In the first and third innings Newburyport intentionally walked Liz even though there already were runners on. The batters after Liz (Sam Wideberg and Rachel Glaubitz) couldn’t deliver.

In the fifth, the Tigers had runners on first and second when it was Liz’s turn. Newburyport, with a 5-0 lead, opted not to walk her. This strategy also worked as Liz hit a hard grounder to third that Maddy Stanton fielded and stepped on third to retire the side.

Liz will be continuing her softball at Wentworth Institute in 2012.

The opportunistic Clippers took full advantage of some low-light film defense by the Tigers in the first. Newburyport gathered four runs on just two hits (Maddy Stanton & Ashley Casellini). Ipswich committed three errors and had two wild pitches. It wasn’t pretty stuff if you watching from the Ipswich sidelines.

Pitcher Katie Gaubitz (allowed five hits in five innings) fielded a one-hopper hit by second batter Lea Tomasz and went for the force-out at second. Good idea except neither second baseman Becca Dunlop nor shortstop Carolyn Lynch covered second. Katie’s throw went into centerfield.

Before the inning ended, catcher Liz Glavin had a bad throw to second and Carolyn Lynch had bobbled a grounder.

Ashley Casellini drove in the only earned run of the first with a single to center.

Newburyport added a single run in the second as Cassie Davis tripled (to center) to drive in Maddy Stanton.

In the fifth, Cassie Davis put herself into a rundown past first and Lea Tomasz (who had singled) slipped home from third for Newburyport’s sixth run.

Lea Tomasz’s single in the sixth inning drove in Rachel Webster with the Clippers’ seventh, and final, run.

Lea Tomasz starts the play in which she will throw Rachel Glaubitz out at 3B in the sixth inning.

Ipswich killed a developing big inning in the 6th when Clipper left fielder Lea Tomasz threw out Rachel Glaubitz at third on a Carolyn Lynch single.

There were balloons attached to the Newburyport bench for their six seniors: Cassie Davis, Taylor Summit, Shannon Brunault, Rachel Webster, Eleni Kacher, and Corrie Benton.

Jill Lombard recorded the Tigers first hit (infield grounder) with two out in the 5th.

Lea Tomasz had two hits, scored two runs, and had an RBI to pace Newburyport’s hitters.

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

senior Corrie Benton

senior Eleni Kacher

senior Rachel Webster

senior Taylor Summit

senior Cassie Davis

senior Shannon Brunault

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Filed under Ipswich, Newburyport

May 23, 2011 · 8:00 pm

Newburyport Softball Defeats Masconomet 7-3 for Thirteenth Win

Centerfielder Eleni Kacher relaxes after catching the final out in Newburyport’s win over Masco.

Molly Rowe – retired eleven of the last twelve batters in a complete game win.

(Newburyport) The Newburyport softball team defeated Masconomet, 7-3, on Monday afternoon at overcast Cashman Park in Cape Ann League action.

Newburyport (13-3) continues to roll along. They’ve won ten of their last eleven games. Masconomet (4-12) continues to roll along as well but unfortunately for them it is in the opposite direction – they’ve lost eight of their last nine games.

The Clippers stacked up five runs in the second inning to recover from a 1-0 deficit and that was enough as Molly Rowe limited the Chieftains to four hits over the last five innings.

Molly had five strikeouts and retired eleven of the last twelve batters she faced.

Newburyport was hitless in their first inning but erupted for twelve hits off of Masco pitcher Molli Marshall the rest of the way. Other than the five-spot in the second, the Clippers had solo runs in the third and fourth.

Masco picked up two runs in the 4th and then their bats were nearly silent the rest of the way.

Kendra Dow – Clipper shortstop had three hits and scored two runs.

Kendra Dow led the Newburyport attack with three hits while scoring two runs. Cassie Davis, Shannon Brunault, and Rachel Webster each had two hits.

Julia O’Reilly and Kiki Brown collected half of Masco’s eight hits between them.

Julia’s first hit in the top of the first was a well-placed bunt that attracted the attention of pitcher Molly Rowe and first baseman Rachel Webster. Unfortunately, for Newburyport, no one was covering first and it turned into a hit. Two hits later the Chieftains had a run (RBI by Molli Marshall) and runners on second and third with one out. However, Molly Rowe K’d Taylor Evans and handled Lissa Rescigno’s grounder to get out of the jam.

In the Newburyport second, the Clippers mixed five hits together with a throwing error by third baseman Julia O’Reilly. Newburyport batted around in the five-run outburst. Shannon Brunault, Rachel Webster, Maddy Stanton, and Lea Tomasz had RBI.

The Clippers picked up their 6th run in Inning #3. Kendra Dow singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and to third on Taylor Summit’s single. She came home on shortstop Taylor Evans’ throwing error.

Julia O’Reilly – two hits and RBI

Kiki Brown – two hits and run scored

Masco tallied two runs in the fourth inning. A walk (Lissa Rescigno), a hit (Kiki Brown), and a sacrifice bunt (Courtney Gotts) put runners on second and third with one out. Third baseman Maddy Stanton decided to go home with Samantha Martin’s grounder and was too late to get Lissa Rescigno. Julia O’Reilly’s single to left brought Kiki Brown home with the second run. Still threatening with runners on second and third, Molly retired the next two hitters to limit the Masco damage.

Newburyport got a gift run in the bottom of the fourth. Cassie Davis singled, went to second on a passed ball, and reached home on third baseman Julia O’Reilly’s 2-base throwing error.

NHS coach Peter Murray was heavily into landscaping the Cashman Park field when I arrived early. He made the usual puddles disappear.

What can you say about the weather! The good news during this game was that there was no wind and it didn’t actually rain. Bringing an umbrella to a game this season has been almost as important as trying to guess which of the three home fields the Clippers will be playing on.

Molli Marshall – Masco pitcher

Molli Marshall was just about the most relaxed pitcher I’ve seen. She was carrying on conversations even while she was pitching!

After a missed popup by her third baseman Julia O’Reilly, who was wearing a mask, Molli said, “Take off the mask and let them see the dye job!” Comedy Central material!

Clipper shortstop Kendra Dow continues to impress with her strong, accurate throws. I learned that she grew up throwing a baseball rather than a softball.

I’m still looking forward to Wednesday’s game at Amesbury between the Indians (16-1) and the Clippers (13-3). The Indians were beaten by North Reading on Saturday. The Clippers lost, 10-9, in their earlier non-league meeting with Amesbury.

Both teams have qualified for the post-season. At stake could well be a share of the CAL Division 2 title.

(I collect my own information and take my own pictures. Mistakes happen.)

Shannon Brunault heads for third

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Filed under Cape Ann League, Masconomet, Newburyport

Tagged as Cassie Davis, Eleni Kacher, Julia O'Reilly, Kendra Dow, Kiki Brown, Lissa Rescigno, Maddy Stanton, Masconomet Regional High School, Molli Marshall, Molly Rowe, Newburyport High School softball, NHS coach Peter Murray, Rachel Webster, Samantha Martin, Shannon Brunault, Taylor Evans, Taylor Summit

May 20, 2011 · 1:49 pm

Poor Defense Dooms Haverhill 10-2 Against Newburyport

Cassie Davis reaches third as NHS Coach Peter Murray watches.

Lea Tomasz scores in the first on Rachel Webster’s rbi single.

(Newburyport) Newburyport defeated Haverhill, 10-2, on Thursday afternoon at Perkins Field in a non-league softball game.

The Clippers (11-3) have won eight of their last nine games and the contrast between them and visiting Haverhill (1-15) took a while to become evident.

I went anticipating a blowout and even tried, before the game, to get up to speed on softball’s mercy rule. But this wasn’t one of those kinds of games, in fact the Hillies led 2-1 into the bottom of the 4th.

Newburyport got it’s run in the first on a double to right center by Lea Tomasz and 2-out bloop single to center by Rachel Webster.

Haverhill took the lead in a wild third inning after going runner-less in the first two innings. They loaded the bases with one out on a Ellie MacArthur single to right, a hit batsman (Liz Murphy) and late throw to 3b by pitcher Molly Rowe on Kayla Pellot’s bunt. Second baseman Taylor Summit took in Kallie Suplinskas’s liner and nearly picked Ellie MacArthur off of third for what would have been the last out. Then Taylor dropped Casey Birch’s infield popup to let in the Hillies first run and Theresa Ross singled up the middle to bring home Liz Murphy. However, Kayla Pellot also tried to score and was thrown out at the plate for the final out of the inning.

Haverhill’s Kallie Suplinskas was victimized by poor defense.

In the bottom of the fourth it was Haverhill’s chance to get “generous.” It was a harmless start with two unassisted putouts by first baseman Haley DeRoche. However, a couple of walks and Liz Murphy’s drop of a third-out infield popup and Newburyport’s Shannon Brunault crossed home with a run. Ashley Casellini’s infield single drove Taylor Summit home with another run.

Newburyport led 3-2 going into the bottom of the 5th. This was when Haverhill showed why it has lost twelve straight. Lack of defense. Three of the first four Clippers reached on errors. Two routine fly balls to center were dropped and later an infield popup was dropped at first. These miscues gave the Clippers two undeserved runs. Shannon Brunault singled another run in and later a fielder’s choice by Taylor Summit brought home a fourth run. All four runs were seriously unearned and put the Hillies down, 7-3.

The Clippers added three more in the sixth.

Except for the glitch on the infield popup in the third inning, the Newburyport defense was excellent especially against bunts. The Hillies bunted often but had little to show for it because of solid infield defense by the Clippers. Bobbles are infrequent and throws are usually strong and accurate.

Haverhill bunted often but the Newburyport infield defense reacted well.

Bad weather. You just can’t get enough of it this season. Cloudy and drizzly with a chance of serious rain at any moment. Ink on paper never holds up well under those conditions. My camera manual takes a dim view of dampness. Point? I lead the way to the exits when rain seems likely!

A game to look forward to is next Wednesday (May 25th) at Amesbury with Newburyport. Amesbury is cruising along undefeated but in an earlier meeting (at Newburyport) the Indians barely won (10-9). The Clippers had runners on 2nd and 3rd in the last inning with one out and couldn’t get either run in. The game should be worth seeing.

(I collect my own information and take my own pictures. Mistakes happen.)

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Filed under Haverhill, Newburyport

Tagged as 2011 Haverhill softball, 2011 Newburyport softball, Ashley Casellini, Kallie Suplinskas, Lea Tomasz, Molly Rowe, Rachel Webster, Shannon Brunault

May 11, 2011 · 9:11 pm

Julianne Meehan K’s Thirteen in 3-1 Pentucket Win Over Newburyport

Bernadette Corrado stretches for the throw beating Cassie Davis for the final out as Julianne Meehan (#12) watches.

Julianne Meehan – thirteen strikouts/ two hits/1 run scored/1 RBI

(Newburyport) Pentucket scored three runs in the first and they held up as the Sachems defeated Newburyport, 3-1, in Cape Ann League softball on Wednesday afternoon at Cashman Park.

Weather conditions were challenging with a steady gale blowing in from right field under a cloudy sky. I thought I saw whitecaps on the Merrimac River in the distance!

Julianne Meehan struck out thirteen batters after she had those three runs to work with in the top of the first.

The Sachem runs were the result of two Clipper errors. Taylor Summit’s bobble on a grounder allowed Colleen Jenkins to reach safely and she was driven home on Julianne Meehan’s double to left. Beth Castantini had the next batter (Megan Haley) struck out but catcher Cassie Davis dropped the ball and then threw it into right field scoring Julianne with the second run. Bernadette Corrado long triple to left scored Megan with Pentucket’s third and final run.

Megan Haley rounds third heading home as Bernadette Corrado runs out an RBI triple in the background.

Those runs didn’t seem like that many early on but as Julianne flashed the K pitch it became difficult for the Clippers to string hits together. In fact, they didn’t get their first hit until Shannon Brunault’s infield one in the 5th.

The Clippers (8-3) didn’t lack base runners through five innings. They stranded eight. The key for Julianne was her ability to strike out Kendra Dow. She did it in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th. Each time for the last out of the inning with runners aboard. Kendra ended up stranding seven runners.

The Clippers broke through for an unearned run in the sixth inning. Molly Rowe, who had replaced Beth Castantini in the fifth, hit a sinking liner to right that got by right fielder Julia Torvi and Molly reached third. Taylor Summit’s single to center drove in the run.