RallyNorth.net

23 hits not enough for error-plagued Andover

Friday, May, 30 By Mike McMahon
Staff writer

After yesterday's 18-12 loss in the preliminary round of the Division 1 North tournament, Andover head coach Stephanie Ragucci was left scratching her head.

You can't blame her because Andover had a whopping 23 hits and still lost.

"I told the girls after the game, if you told me before the first pitch that we'd score 12 runs, and lose, I would have told you that you were crazy," said the 12th-year head coach. "It was just all about defense today. The girls had no quit, you could see that, but our defense simply wasn't where it needed to be."

The Golden Warriors entered the game on a tear, with wins in seven out of their last eight, including winning the Methuen Invitational over the weekend.

"Our bats have been great for a while," said Ragucci. "It was really all about our defense. We did leave a lot of girls on base, which hurt us, but we still scored 12 runs. That should be enough. I was surprised with our struggles in the field. But, Reading is a very good team. They're 10-10 coming in, but you have to look at their league. 10-10 in their league is very good."

Trailing 5-0 after two innings, the Warriors struck back, outscoring the Rockets 6-4 in the next three innings to cut the deficit to 9-6 after five. Kerry McCarthy's two-run homer to right field with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning was the big blow. She also had two doubles and a triple on the day.

The Warriors could have done even more damage. Several hard-hit balls went for deep outs, usually to centerfielder Maria Pandolfo.

 "It was just one of those days, we hit the ball extremely well, when you score 12 runs, that's pretty evident, but we weren't getting the breaks," said Ragucci. "I'm proud of the way the girls stuck with it. We were down 5-0, then never let up and made it a game again before they pulled away in the sixth."

The Rockets struck for nine runs in the sixth and seventh innings before the Warriors scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh. It was a case of too little, too late.

Several Golden Warriors had monster days led by McCarthy and Strock Alex Strock with four hits each while Nina Yu, Jeannette Doucette, Tricia Martin and Megan Pettoruto added three hits apiece.