Vale-Cruz Outduels Puppolo as Wahconah Wins Sixth Straight
CHESHIRE, Mass. — Wahconah sophomore Avery Vale-Cruz has quickly established herself as one of the top power pitchers in Western Mass.
And she even has a plan to face arguably the top power hitter in Berkshire County.
"I know what I would throw to myself," Vale-Cruz said with a laugh after Thursday's 5-0 win at Hoosac Valley.
Vale-Cruz went 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs batted in to help her own cause. And she struck out 17 hitters in helping Wahconah improve to 6-1 with its third shutout win of the year.
Despite the final score, the game was as good a pitching duel as advertised. Hoosac Valley ace Madi Puppolo struck out 15, walked one and allowed just two earned runs in taking the loss.
Two of those earned runs came off the bat of Vale-Cruz.
She hit a one-out single up the middle to score Casey Wilson in the fifth inning and launched a two-out homer over the right-center fence in the seventh.
"I've played with [Puppolo] before, and I know who she is, and she's a fantastic pitcher," Vale-Cruz said. "I was lucky enough to know what she threw and was able to time her up and put the ball where they weren't."
Puppolo pitched around a leadoff error in the second and left the bases loaded when she got the third out on a swinging strike.
In the third inning, Wahconah again got a runner to third base after she reached on an error. But again, Puppolo was able to record a strikeout to end the inning and keep it a 0-0 game.
Wahconah was finally able to break through for three runs in the top of the fourth, taking advantage of four Hoosac Valley errors in the inning. Kaitlyn Olds singled in a run, and Morgan Marauszwski drove in a run with a sacrifice bunt during the rally.
"[Puppolo] is excellent," Wahconah coach Dustin Belcher said. "And we knew that coming in. Our game plan was going to be to put the ball in play. We still struck out 15 times, but I thought that one inning we were able to get the ball in play, get the bunt down and just put a little pressure on the defense."
Wilson led off the fifth with a double and moved up when Kaylee O'Bryan grounded back to the circle. Vale-Cruz then drove Wilson home with single to make it 4-0.
Two innings later, Vale-Cruz capped the scoring with her third home run of the spring.
The Hurricanes threatened to put a run across in the bottom of the sixth.
Puppolo singled to left with two out for Hoosac Valley's second hit of the game and moved up when Rylie Bishop was hit by a pitch. A passed ball put both runners in scoring position, but Vale-Cruz got the third out with a K to end the threat.
With the win, Vale-Cruz improved to 5-1 and raised her stirkeout average to 2.1 per innings pitched.
Wahconah will look for its seventh straight win next Tuesday when it travels to face Taconic.
Hoosac Valley hosts Taconic on Saturday morning.