Rico K's 15 as King Philip Softball Team Advances in Tournament

If anything, No. 1 King Philip’s 1-0 win in the opening round Division I south softball tournament against the No. 17 Taunton Tigers was a pitcher’s dual Tuesday.

The Warriors now advance to the quarterfinal round where they will host No. 8 Somerset-Berkley at the PAL Fields today (June 6) at 3:30 p.m.

While Taunton’s Jesse Aleixo was able to get the Warriors to hit into outs, the Tigers struggled to even make contact against KP senior pitcher Meg Rico. 

Rico was the difference maker for the Warriors both in the pitching circle and at the plate. Striking out 15, Rico had trouble early on finding the strike zone and even got called for a few illegal pitches in the early innings.

Rico found her groove in the top of the third inning when she struck out three despite letting a batter on base. Later in the top of the fourth, Rico did it again striking out three after letting up a walk.

“She (Rico) came back to just being who she is," said King Philip head coach Jim Leonard. "She’s a great high school pitcher that has command over her game when she’s out there in the circle. When she and (Olivia) Godin on the same page, she does real well.”

The scoreless tie was eventually broken by Rico in the top of the fifth when a sacrifice fly out gave Breanna Shaffer enough time to score from third base and give KP the 1-0 lead after five innings.

“Fortunately that inning we did what we had to do when we needed to do it. Get the runner to third base and fortunately we got her in,” Leonard said.

The Warriors almost had another chance to put up a few more runs against the Tigers in the bottom of the sixth with runners on first and second and no outs. An infield fly out by Anna O’Neill gave Warriors one out but the Tigers were able to end the inning on a double play after Meg Carnase couldn’t tag up after a fly out to center field.

The Tiger chances were few and rare as they struggled to get hits off of Rico. Taunton had two on with two out in the top of the second but catcher Godin was able to catch Kailey March stealing third to end the inning.

With two outs in the top of the seventh inning and a runner on third, the Tigers had a chance to tie the game but Kim McCone's strike out ended the game along with Taunton’s season.

“Could we have done something a little bit different in the inning they scored the run? Yeah, probably but I think it was a little bit of inexperience,” Taunton head coach David Lewry said about the loss.

Despite the loss, things look bright for a Taunton team that will only lose one senior. Joining the Hockomock League’s Kelley-Rex Division next year, the already competitive softball division will be even more challenging come next spring.

“Next year, we’re playing in the Hockomock, a lot of good competition obviously, we see these guys twice. I look forward to playing them again,” Lewry said.