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Karvielis leads Triton past Rockport

Monday, April, 29 By Jeff Hamrick

BYFIELD – Having waylaid six of its seven opponents in the season’s early going, the Triton softball squad is having its way with enemy pitching as the Vikings already have crossed the plate exactly 100 times.

Just let the club’s cleanup hitter sum up the early explosion that has Triton averaging 16.7 runs per game:

“It’s unbelievable, honestly,” said senior second baseman Emily Karvielis. “We just have a great team chemistry. We all play well together and help each other out. We’re swinging the bats, we’re playing good defense and we have an amazing pitcher on the mound.”

It was Karvielis who did the bulk of the damage in Monday’s 19-0 victory over Rockport, driving in six runs on a 4-for-4 day that included her eighth home run of the year. It was the Vikings fifth win by at least 10 runs and fourth by at least 13.

With 10 hits against Rockport, Triton is hitting .464 as a team.

“I think as a team, we’ve worked on hitting a lot,” Karvielis said. “We’ve been using the pitching machine, and I think it’s helped our team in a huge way. We get up there and feel really confident in what we’re doing.”

Doing all the work on the mound through six games, Kathleen Quigley has been the beneficiary of the support.

“Oh, my goodness,” Quigley said of the boost provided by her teammates. “All up and down the lineup, I never have a doubt at all. I say, ‘this girl can hit it out and this girl can hit it out.’ I never have doubt, ever. Each game gets more and more fun.”

Quigley made short work of Rockport (1-4), allowing only one hit – a one-out single in the fourth – and struck out four with no walks. She went to one three-ball count and faced only one batter over the minimum while earning her fourth shutout.

The Triton infield picked up the slack, accounting for each of the other 11 outs of the game.

“Honestly it’s one of the best feelings in the world,” Quigley said about taking the mound. “My defensive team really shines when they need to. I owe my confidence to them for how well they do.”

Triton scored three in the first after the first two Vikings popped up. Sheehan and Karvielis each singled before three walks and a wild pitch provided all the runs Quigley would need.

The damage was done in a 12-run second that saw 15 Vikings take a bat to the plate. Grace McGonagle, Molly Kimball, Sheehan and Karvielis each scored twice in the frame. Karvielis had five RBI in the inning with a two-run single and a three-run homer to straight-away center. Quigley added a two-run double and Sheehan drove in two with a single in the assault.

Triton scored their final four in the third when the only two hits came on a Mia Berardino double and Karvielis’ final hit. Triton took advantage of three of the eight walks issued by two Rockport pitchers on the day.

“I thought coming off the (10-7) loss that we were a better team than we played against North Reading,” Triton coach Dave Dupree said of his squad’s first loss on Wednesday. “Coming into today, I think we needed to do what we did. We needed better pitching, and we got it. We had some timely hitting early in the game and took control of the game, running the bases aggressively and playing good defense.”