RHS Softball
Garnets Shut Out in Opener

– By Melanie Cane –

The Garnets' season got off to an inauspicious start when lone senior, co-captain Hannah Simonson, missed the first game due to illness, and then junior outfielder Kelsey Hanley received a bloody lip from a fly ball she lost in the sun in the top of the first inning Tuesday, April 10, in Rye.

These were not the only reasons for their 14-0 loss to Albertus Magnus, however. It was only their fifth practice as a team, their third time playing outside (the other two outdoor experiences were their scrimmages two weeks earlier), and the team is young and inexperienced, to boot. But, most of all, it was the formidable pitching of Albertus Magnus' Molly Meehan that led to the opening day loss. Meehan struck out 15 and only allowed two hits in the shutout victory. The singles came from Rye freshman SS Karly Fitzgerald and junior OF Amanda Buckley.

Rye's pitcher, left-handed junior Kira Hessekiel, didn't fare so well, giving up 15 hits and 13 walks, and pitching only seven strikeouts. The bulk of the damage occurred in the top of the sixth inning, when the Falcons scored six runs (many on errors) to take an 11-0 lead. After this inning, Garnets' head coach Alex Tejera put the girls in a huddle and told them, “You can't give up six runs in one inning and expect to stay competitive. We're doing silly things like we never played before.” In an encouraging tone, however, he added, “I know it's our first game and we've only had five practices, but we have to work on the little things like knowing who's covering a base if the position player is somewhere else.”

Not to be discouraged, junior co-captain Amanda Buckley said after the game, “Today's game was definitely tough for us. We had a few good innings, but unfortunately they had better ones. Nothing negative came out of today's game, and we can only build from here.”