Carpenter Leads Spartans Past Drury
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The Monument Mountain softball team Saturday pounded out 17 hits, including five doubles, en route to a 17-8 win over Drury on Fran Millard Field.
Leadoff hitter Lexi Carpenter led the way with three hits, including a pair of doubles, and five RBIs as the Spartans won their fourth straight game and improved to 7-1 this spring.
In six of those wins, Monument Mountain has scored at least 12 runs.
The lone hiccup came in a shutout loss to Lee, when Wildcats ace Bri Lynch struck out 19 while allowing just a pair of hits.
Other than that loss on April 17, the Spartans have been as dangerous as any team in the county.
“To get this many runs against a decent pitcher … we put the bat on the ball, put a lot of people on base and scored a lot of runs,” Monument Mountain coach Scott Annand said. “That’s pretty good stuff.
“I’ve realized, looking at it, this is one of the better hitting teams that I’ve had. We put pressure on other teams by putting the ball in play, make things happen. We’ve still got a long way to go to get better and be tighter offensively.
“But we’ve got to be pretty pleased with this today.”
The Spartans’ offense started out modestly with a one-out single in the top of the first by Gianna Beacco, who eventually came home on an error to give her team a 1-0 lead going to the bottom of the frame.
Drury answered with a leadoff single by Maddie Saunders, who scored on Brooke Bishop’s sixth home run of the season to give the Blue Devils a 2-1 lead.
Monument Mountain starter Meg Dupont got the next two hitters to end the inning and sat down the side in order in the bottom of the second.
Meanwhile, her offense gave her four in the top of the second and five in the top of the third to build a 10-2 lead.
Carpenter hit a two-run double in the middle of the second-inning rally. In the third, Sammy Ullrich hit a two-run single up the middle and Jade Abderhalden crushed a two-run double to left.
The Blue Devils’ third pitcher of the game, Michelle Wood, finally got her team out of the third, and Drury fought back with four runs in the bottom of the inning and two more in the fourth to get within three at 11-8.
“I was proud of Michelle,” Drury coach Michelle Darling said of Wood. “She came in and didn’t give up. She stayed positive.”
But Monument Mountain tacked on three in the fifth and three in the sixth to pull away.
Meanwhile, Dupont held the Blue Devils scoreless over the last three, stranding a pair of base runners in the bottom of the seventh with a fly ball to left.
“Meg did great,” Annand said. “Andrea [Paul] got hurt. She took a ball off the knee yesterday. So Meg came in and did a great job. She throws strikes.
“[The Blue Devils] have some hitters, oh my gosh. We walked Brooke [Bishop] a couple of times because, after the first one, we weren’t going to let her do that again to give them momentum. Home runs do that.
“I thought Meg stepped up, as a senior, came in, threw the ball. We shuffled the deck. My catcher went to short. We did a lot of shuffling. As I’ve been telling them all year: TBS, Team Before Self.”
Monument Mountain will look to maintain its momentum on Monday when it hosts Lenox in a rematch.
Drury (4-5) will look to snap a two-game skid on Monday when it hosts Chicopee Comprehensive.