Lee Regains Focus, Wins Back-And-Forth Game at Monument Mountain
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – After jumping out to a four-run lead at South County rival Monument Mountain on Friday, the Lee softball team gave it all back, and then some, in an error-filled second inning.
Then the Wildcats turned things around, played error-free ball the rest of the way and took a 9-6 win over the Spartans for Lee’s eighth straight win.
Bri Lynch struck out 15, and Zoe Ozawa and Julianna Schuerer each went 3-for-4 at the plate.
But the key to victory was the way the entire Lee team responded after committing three errors to give Monument Mountain five runs in the second.
“We were just trying to keep everybody positive, because if we get down on ourselves, we’ll get into an even bigger hole that we’ll have to climb out of,” Lynch said. “And we don’t want to do that, so we just tried to stay positive.”
Lee coach Steven Bannon said he told his team to get back to the kind of play it used to win 12 games heading into Friday.
“I just tried to remind them that sometimes things happen, and we lost focus for a second,” Bannon said. “I told them to regain focus and get going and do what we do. That wasn’t how we play.
“And we did. I was proud of them for turning it around and battling for seven innings and coming out with the win. Because that’s what it takes to beat good teams, and [Monument Mountain] is definitely a good team that puts the ball in play.”
Lee used RBI singles from Lynch and Lily Brancato in a three-run first inning and tacked on a run in the second when Ozawa hit a two-out triple and scored on Shuerer’s RBI single to left to make it 4-0.
The Spartans rallied for five runs on just one hit in the bottom of the second.
Meg Dupont had an RBI single up the middle in the middle of the rally, which also saw three players score on a dropped third strike.
Lynch finally ended the rally with her fourth strikeout of the inning, and Lee got a run back to tie the game in the top of the third.
Brancato led off with a single, moved up on a pitch that got to the backstop and scored on an RBI single by Delaney Reed to make it 5-5.
Monument Mountain retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Dupont got things started by reaching on a one-out bunt, and she scored on an RBI triple from Lexi Carpenter (2-for-3).
After a scoreless fifth, Lee retook the lead with three runs in the top of the sixth.
Brook Delaguistina and Devyn Fillio set the table with back-to-back singles to start the inning, and Ozawa and Schuerer delivered RBI singles to put their team up, 8-6.
The Spartans had a golden opportunity to answer in the bottom of the inning.
Alex Tenney led off with a double, and Ember Raifstanger reached on a bunt to put runners at the corners. Raifstanger moved up on defensive indifference to give Monument Mountain two runners in scoring position with nobody out.
But the next batter was called out for being out of the box, and Lynch got the next two hitters to ground out to end the threat.
“Big moment in time,” Monument Mountain coach Scott Anand said of the missed opportunity. “Didn’t execute there and didn’t get anything to put pressure back on them.
“That was the moment the game changed. Getting out of there with no runs scored … If we execute properly, we get a couple of runs, and we’re tied. Didn’t happen.”
Instead, the Wildcats tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh.
Reed drew a walk, moved up on a ground ball and scored on Shayla Santolin’s single to left to make it 9-6.
In the seventh, Lynch struck out the side around a two-out triple by Jade Abderhalden to end it.
Lee (13-2) goes to St. Mary’s on Monday.
Monument Mountain (11-2) goes to Gateway on Monday, the first of four games in four days.