With a 1-3 record coming into Wednesday’s game, some might have thought it would be an easy day for Riverside. If some thought that, they were definitely wrong. Softball showed its resilience in a 10-inning, 15-14 loss to the Rams today.
“Today, our bats came alive,” head coach Tracy Bart said. “We put 14 runs up on the board. Our defense, we struggled a little bit defensively.”
Rebecca Martino got the start in the circle and she was followed by Rebecca Proctor and Chelsea Price.
“Rebecca Proctor throws hard. Chelsea has a slower off-speed pitching style that can throw a batter off,” Bart said. “Martino is similar to in style to Proctor, but all three bring something different.”
Cinnaminson is now 1-4 on the year, but the Pirates have been in every single game and are close to putting it together.
“I wouldn’t wanna play with anyone else,” senior Brooke Figiel said. “We played a tough game. We played our hearts out. We made errors in the field, but that happens. We hit good. We just have to work on defense now.”
The Pirates jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first after Brooke Figiel tripled to dead center with two outs and was driven in via a single by Olivia Pestridge.
The Rams didn’t waste anytime in the bottom of the inning, scoring four times on three hits and two Pirates errors.
Any other team would have hung their heads going down 4-1 after the first, but the Pirates fought back immediately. Cinnaminson scored three in the second to tie the game.
“All 10 innings they were up cheering. One thing we talked about is if someone walks up to the field, they shouldn’t know if we are winning or losing by our body language,” Bart said. “In all of our games so far the girls have been up, they’ve been positive, they’ve worked hard the entire game. Sooner or later things are gonna go our way.”
After Riverside went ahead 5-4 in the bottom of the second the Pirates scored five runs in the third on four hits and four Rams errors to take a 9-5 lead.
“Our first few games we weren’t hitting, but then yesterday we were hitting it good and today we were hitting it good,” Figiel said. “It’s all gonna come.”
The Pirates also led 12-7, 12-9, 12-11 and 13-11 prior to extras. The Rams tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh on a single to right field.
Cinnaminson took a 14-13 lead in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Pestridge, but the Rams tied it in the bottom of the frame.
Both teams went down without scoring in their halves of the ninth.
With the game tied heading into the 10th inning the international tiebreaker rules took effect. This means that a runner was placed on second base to begin each half inning with no outs.
The Pirates advanced their runner to third, but a flyout-double play ended the threat.
In the bottom of the 10th the Rams got their runner to third and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly to left.
“We talked about it yesterday. Stay positive,” Bart said. “Keep hitting the ball hard. Eventually those hits are going to drop in and they will be base hits and we’re gonna start putting the runs up on the board.”
When the dust settled, the teams combined for 29 runs, 37 hits and 20 (14 by Riverside) errors. It wasn’t pretty for either side, but it was a fun one to watch, especially since both teams played their hearts out from start to finish.
The Pirates are back on the field Thursday with an away game against Patriot rival Bordentown at 6:30pm. It will be the sixth straight road game to start the 2016 season for Cinnaminson.
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