KP Softball Wins Again

Attleboro batters were being sent walking back to the dugout after continually fanning against King Philip’s Meg Rico Thursday afternoon.

The Warrior ace struck out every Bombardier batter at least once and concluded with 18 K’s on the afternoon. However, while Rico was cruising along the King Philip bats were idle and it looked as though the Warriors were going to be saddled with its second loss in three games.

KP was able to rally, though, grabbing a 4-0 win.

Through five-and-a-half innings, the game remained scoreless as Attleboro’s Hannah Smith went toe-to-toe with Rico, striking out seven batters of her own. Luckily, in the sixth inning, the Warrior bats came alive and sent ten batters to the plate, scoring four runs on five hits to grab the victory.

Anna O’Neill singled with one out, and Tori Constantin laced her second double of the afternoon putting runners at second and third. Cayleigh McCarthy then ripped a single, plating both base runners.

McCarthy used her astute base running skills, taking second on the throw to the plate and then moved over to third on the overthrow. Although the running was done to put the Warriors in a better position, it really wasn’t necessary, as pinch hitter Renee Poirier blasted a homerun over the center field fence accounting for the 4-0 final.

“Three games right in a row, seeing different pitching from day to day, it took us a little bit to make our adjustments and once we did we caught up to her [Smith] and got the job done,” KP Coach Jim Leonard said. “We just tried to be patient, it took a little longer than we would have liked, but you don’t want to take the bats out of their hands.”

Despite the setback, Attleboro felt a sense of pride as they walked off the PAL fields and headed toward their bus.

“We held them all that way while playing pretty good defense today. Unfortunately, they got a couple of good hits that you can’t do anything about,” Attleboro Coach Deb Carreiro said. “We’ve been struggling, making some errors in the field and couldn’t support it with the runs. Today we came out against a good team and played well. They’re a quality team and we feel good despite the loss.”

Although the game was decided in one inning late in the game, the first five-plus innings were basically a pitchers duel. Rico opened the game with five straight strikeouts and 11 out of the first 12 outs. Bombardier right fielder Savannah Boyle got to Rico for the team’s only hit with a single to open the fifth inning. 

While Rico was mowing down Attleboro batters one by one, Smith was going through the KP lineup as well. Smith was holding the Warriors at bay, stranding runners at third in the first two innings and runners at second and third in the third. At one point, Smith would sit down seven straight Warriors before Hailey Mullen reached on an error and was the fifth KP runner to be stranded in scoring position through five innings.

King Philip was able to bang out six hits in the win, with Constantin leading the way with two doubles. O’Neill, McCarthy, Poirier and Mullen would all contribute one hit.

“Tori had a great day at the plate for us,” the KP skipper said. “To have a
freshman to plug in as a pinch hitter off the bench and [have her] come away with a two run homer, that’s huge.”

The win improves KP to 7-2 (4-0 in the Rex-Kelley Division of the Hockomock League), while Attleboro drops to 3-5 (0-4 in the division). After playing three games in as many days, the Warriors will be able to rest up, as they will not take to the field again until next Monday when they host Stoughton, the Davenport Division leader. Attleboro will host Canton on Monday afternoon.