Port Chester and Blind Brook score 52 combined runs with Lady Rams outlasting Lady Trojans in 31-21 win
April 10, 2024 at 11:13 p.m.
Strange things were happening as the world seemed to be spinning out of control. First came the earthquake, the eclipse and a bridge struck by a ship collapsing in Baltimore. Then two airliners brushed wings at London's Heathrow Airport and an engine cover on a 737 came apart mid-flight to Houston, Next somebody in Oregon hit the Powerball jackpot for $1.33 billion. And then basketball's March Madness collegiate national championship went berserk with unprecedented hoop TV ratings as Iowa's Caitlin Clark, Louisiana State's Angel Reese, Connecticut's Paige Bueckers and the University of Southern California's Juju Watson stole the show. To make things even more interesting, head coach Dawn Staley's undefeated University of South Carolina Gamecocks won it all Sunday (4/7) in the NCAA finals against Iowa at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland in a game that drew 18.7 million viewers, another record in a multi-record-breaking season while UConn won its second consecutive men's national title over Purdue Monday night (4/8) in Glendale, Ariz., a game that featured two seven-foot-plus giants on both teams.
All of that earth-shaking stuff and more happened during the past week or so's news cycle nationally and globally.
And with early April gusts of wind and rain making it seem more like late December hereabouts over the same timeframe, the stage was set for seismic events locally, and Port Chester's Lady Rams and Blind Brook’s Lady Trojans softball teams didn't disappoint.
Runs flow like lava
They erupted for 52 combined runs as the Port Chester home team beat its crosstown rivals 31-21 last Saturday (4/6).
It was the greatest softball offensive outburst locally in almost two decades, maybe more.
And Port Chester badly needed the win because the Lady Rams were coming off two consecutive losses to top 10-ranked teams in New Rochelle and Mamaroneck in the past week.
"I would consider the win over Blind Brook a much-needed win in a game played by two very evenly matched teams," Lady Rams head coach Jeanine Maiolini said after that game.
Collective team effort
It was a collective team effort with the Port Chester team combining for 14 base hits.
But it took an unusual daily double for the Lady Rams to walk away with the W.
Winning pitcher Fiona Lovallo pitched her second complete game—and it took a lot of throwing to compile the stat line that showed how the game was won.
Lovallo faced 51 batters in seven innings in which she gave up 17 hits, walked seven batters and hit one Lady Trojan.
On the surface those numbers may not look impressive, but if you read between the lines, the stats show that Lovallo stepped up, hung in there and gave the Lady Rams a badly needed complete game.
"Lovallo is improving with every outing on the mound, finding the strike zone and allowing her teammates to make the plays," said Maiolini.
Unsaid was the fact that Lovallo kept the game under control by not giving away the free bases on balls with all those works leading to runs that have undermined Port Chester in its previous early season losses.
Leading hitting lady
It also helped that Tabby Sanchez has been swinging a hot bat, going four for six with four base hits and eight runs batted in.
"Sanchez has been on fire for us at the plate lately," Maiolini said.
Four Lady Rams also had two hits apiece: Tamara Correia, Heidi Gonzalez, Yvonne Santiago and Kimberly Ventura while Karah Provenzano also had base hits. And those hits resulted in RBIs with Ventura plating five RBIs, Sofia Greco four, and Correia, Provenzano and Gonzalez all chipping in with three while Santiago had two.
What really hurt the Lady Trojans were those bases on balls because Port Chester cashed in with that errant walk on the wild side with Provenzano, Greco, Kathleen Scarola and Melina Morban all walking four times while Correia walked thrice and Gonzalez, Lovallo, Santiago and Ventura also got on base with a walk.
As the late, great radio announcer, Hall of Fame Major League Baseball infielder and "Fordham Flash" collegiate great Frankie Frisch used to say: "Oh, those bases on balls, they will kill you all the time."
That was certainly the case in the Lady Rams’ 18-8 loss to Mamaroneck.
Morban started that game and Scarola came on to finish it in relief. But they combined to give up 16 bases on balls while allowing eight hits.
The positive takeaways
"It is impossible to win games when we are putting that many players on base for free; we need to do better at throwing strikes and letting our defense handle the rest," Maiolini said. But rather than dwell on what went wrong against Mamaroneck, she preferred to see the positive takeaways from that loss.
"We had a glimpse of what we are capable of offensively during our breakout inning scoring six runs in the fourth inning," she said, underlining the silver lining by detailing what happened during that outburst. Sanchez singled with one out, Gonzalez walked and the next three batters—Correia, Greco and Santiago—singled and Lovallo and Scarola came through with base hits that contributed to the uplifting rally.
As inspirational as it was, it was too little, too late. Especially in a game where Provenzano's double was the only extra base hit.
The bats were also mainly missing during the 11-1 loss to New Rochelle.
But even there Maiolini stressed the positive.
"Lovallo pitched a good game and went all seven innings," Maiolini said. "She threw strikes, and we made plays behind her and that was a good thing."
New Ro threw heat
But once again it was Sanchez who was the Port Chester standout, playing a strong centerfield and catching everything in sight "like she was a human vacuum," Maiolini said. "She also had two base hits, stole two bases, had a sacrifice that drove in our only run and stole the show."
The problem was there wasn't much else to steal because Gonzalez, Santiago and Ventura had the only other Port Chester hits.
"We came up against a strong New Rochelle pitcher who was throwing heat that quite frankly we could not catch up to," Maiolini said. "But we had a good day in the field making all the plays with minimal errors and that's all you can ask from your team. Especially since we only gave up eight hits against a dominant New Rochelle team."
The road ahead doesn't get any easier because upcoming games include an away-and-home series against Fox Lane Tuesday and Thursday (4/16 and 187) followed by a home game against Lincoln Friday (4/198), all at 4:30 p.m. The Foxes figure to be tough, but the Lincs may be beatable. But who knows what will happen, W or L, given all the strange things that have been taking place lately globally, nationally and locally. But the odds are the Lady Rams won't hit the Powerball jackpot for 32 runs again for a long time to come.
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