By Michael Letendre
There will be better days ahead for the Bristol Eastern softball squad after a very tough opener on Saturday.
In the Lancers debut game against Berlin from Sage Park, a quick lead was erased as the Redcoats put together two big scoring innings to seize ultimate control of the contest.
In the end, Eastern fell by an 11-1 final from Berlin.
And once Berlin’s pitching settled down, the offense took charge of the game.
Trailing by one, the Redcoats posted three runs in the second inning and netted another six in the fourth to put the contest out of reach.
Berlin pitcher Stefanie Poulin gave up a run in the top of the first but dominated from there. The run ended up being unearned thanks to an error.
Poulin posted nine strikeouts and walked two over a very good opening debut.
Offensively, Jessica Petit had a tremendous game with a double, a home run and four RBI – going 3-for-3 overall for Berlin.
Allie Tellier walked to open things up in the first inning and then quickly stole second base.
A single advanced her to third and Tellier later scored on an error to make it a 1-0 contest.
On the mound, Tellier hung tough into the second inning before things ultimately fell apart.
The game-winning tally came during that second frame when Poulin and Kylie Lanteri posted back-to-back singles.
And then Petit slammed a ball into the outfield and the race was on.
Poulin, Lanteri, and Petit all crossed the plate as the inside-the-park homer made it a 3-1 contest.
From there, the home team never looked back.
Berlin slapped six runs onto the scoreboard in the fourth stanza and added two more in the sixth to make it an 11-1 contest.
Offensively, Eastern’s Jasmine Perez had a big triple while Makayla Antunes added two hits to lead the Lancers’ offense.
Samantha Policki and Tellier each added the other hits for Eastern.
CCC South Baseball
BERLIN 11, BRISTOL EASTERN 1
from Sage Park, Berlin
Bristol Eastern (0-1) 100 000 0 – 1 5 0
Berlin (1-0) 030 620 x – 11 12 1
WP – Stefanie Poulin (Berlin); LP – Allie Tellier (BE).
Bristol Eastern Batting
2B – None
3B – Jasmine Perez
HR – None
Berlin Batting
2B – Jessica Petit, Sophia Fazzina
3B – Rylee Cop
HR – Jessica Petit
Records: Berlin 1-0; Bristol Eastern 0-1
