King Philip Win Earns At Least A Co-Share of League Championship

As King Philip put together its eighth consecutive win (this time a 4-0 victory over North Attleboro), the Warriors clinched at least a share of the Rex-Kelley Division of the Hockomock.

With only two league games (Mansfield and Attleboro) left on the schedule, King Philip is in good position to grab its sixth consecutive league championship.

The Warriors banged out 11 hits while scoring four runs en route to their 13th win against two loses.  Meg Rico scattered four hits, while striking out 11 and allowing two walks to grab her tenth win.   

Nine games ago, King Philip fell 3-2 to Coyle Cassidy in Taunton. Since that loss, the Warriors have yet to relinquish another blemish on their record; even better, they have not allowed a run to score against them. Going 8-0 in that time span, KP has outscored its opponents by a 62-0 margin.

Win number 13 came courtesy of two runs in the bottom of the first inning. After
watching the Rocketeers put runners on the corners in the top of the first, KP did some base running of their own.

After Rico was retired on a groundout, Hailey Mullen (bunt base hit) and Meg Carnase (infield single) both got on base. The two moved to second and third via a Megan Colleran wild pitch and were chased home on a Tori Constantin single.

The Warriors would add another run in the next inning to take a 3-0 lead when Mullen (2-4 with an RBI and a run scored) tripled. The NA left fielder fell on the play, allowing the ball to roll all the way down the left field line, scoring Shannon Jones who had reached on an error.

“The bats are starting to come around a little bit,” KP skipper Jim Leonard said. “We loaded the bases [in the third inning], but we couldn’t get them across as a coach [would] like to see these situations.”

Although the Rocketeers fell to the Warriors for the second time this season, they felt much better about this loss compared to the 9-2 defeat earlier in the year.

“Meg pitched a good game, we were one or two hits away, but in a big game like this against a team like them, you really need to play your best softball and I don’t think we did that today,” North Attleboro Coach Bill Wallace said. “[The team] battled, but that’s the best team in Eastern Massachusetts for a reason. Hopefully, we’ll get a third shot at them somewhere down the line in the tournament.”

The Warriors put the final touches on the scoring in the fifth inning. Olivia Godin walked to open the inning and was replaced by pinch runner Breanna Schaffer.  Constantin, who has been on a tea at the plate as of late, lashed out her third hit of the game a double to put runners on second and third with no outs. Anna O’Neill was robbed of a hit when Mikaela Carracciolo grabbed her would-be hit out of the air and then doubled Constantin off second base. The next batter, Cayleigh McCarthy, came through with a clutch base hit delivering Shaffer and the fourth KP run.

Provided the weather cooperates, King Philip will be right back in action tonight against the same Coyle Cassidy team that beat them three weeks earlier.