One big inning was all it took for the Pemberton Township softball team to secure an 8-3 victory over Cinnaminson softball in Patriot play on Tuesday afternoon.
The Pirates held a 3-2 advantage going into the top of the fifth, but the Hornets had other plans.
Pemberton started the inning with a walk, single and a walk to load the bases with no outs. Head coach Tracy Bart made a pitching change, bringing in Chelsea Price to relieve starter Rebecca Martino.
“She (Price) came in and got a fly ball to left field for an out,” Bart said. “Gave up a base hit. As a coach, you can’t ask for anything more from your pitcher than that.”
“It seems like nothing phases her. She does not let a lot of stuff bother her. You can tell that by the smile on her face at all times.”
Price did all she could to limit the damage, but when the dust settled, the Hornets scored four times to take a 6-3 lead that they would not relinquish.
“You gotta put runs on the board and you gotta play solid ‘D.’ That’s the name of the game,” Bart said.
The Hornets started the scoring on Tuesday with one run in the top of the first. Pemberton made it a 2-0 game with a single run in the top of the third on two hits.
Cinnaminson answered in the bottom of the third, scoring all three of their runs in the frame.
Kelly Sigmund drove in the Pirates first run of the day with an RBI single to left that scored Brenna MacNair with two outs.
Brooke Figiel followed Sigmund’s RBI hit with a two-run home run to left that gave the Pirates their first and only lead of the afternoon.
“We didn’t hit the ball,” Bart said. “Brooke Figiel had a nice home run, her first of the season. Brenna (MacNair) had nice base running plays to set up Kelly’s RBI single. Other than that we just didn’t hit the ball today.”
Pemberton tacked on two insurance runs in the top of the seventh on three hits to extend their lead to 8-3.
The Pirates picked up two, two-out singles in the bottom of the frame, but could not extend the rally as they fell to 7-12 overall and 2-5 in the Patriot Division.
“We point out the positive things that have happened already,” Bart said. “One of our goals is to get a home playoff game. We’re pretty sure we’re going to reach that goal this year.”
“We had nice wins against Bordentown and Florence where our program hadn’t beaten those teams yet. We made it to the third round of the BCSL, where we hadn’t done that yet.”
Cinnaminson returns to the field on Thursday, May 12 at 3:45pm when Glassboro comes to town for a non-league game.
Follow Cinn City Sports on Twitter for news, scores and live updates from games throughout each season. Like Cinn City Sports on Facebook. Sign-up for our daily newsletter, which arrives daily at 8am with the previous day’s stories, on the homepage.
