By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The first time around in city series play, late heroics by the Bristol Eastern softball squad led to a stunning 2-1 victory over Bristol Central back on April 24.
But in the rematch on Monday, the Rams hit the ball early, late, and everywhere in between as Central racked up a big 13-2 win from the softball field at BCHS – moving to 14-3 overall and winning its eighth straight game.
Eastern fell to 13-6 off the loss and never got on track offensively in the showdown.
Central etched up 12 hits off Eastern pitcher Ali Tellier as the squad scooped up 11 runs over the first three innings, never looking back.
“They were so disciplined at the plate today,” said Central coach Monica Hayes of her squad. “Our approach was to make [Tellier] throw as many pitches as possible. I thought we did that. We capitalized on every pitch, [every] mistake. We had some home runs, bloopers too, those are a back breaker when you’re playing defense like that and everything just went our way today as well.”
Central’s Gwen Torreso nearly hit for the cycle as she was a perfect 4-of-4 with two doubles and a home run in the fifth inning that was the icing on the cake for the home team.
She scored four times and padded her tally with six RBI.
Lorelei Stancavage also hit one out of the park, going 2-for-3 overall with a double and five RBI.
Teammates Sam Sklenka and Leah Sklenka added two hits apiece while Alex Sciarretto blasted out a double and Sophia Torreso added an RBI single in the second inning to help complement the offense.
“They came out and set the tone early,” said Eastern coach Scott Redman of Central. “There’s definitely things that we didn’t do well, of course. Alex [Sciarretto] was dealing [and] her defense helped her out when needed which was rare.”
Sciarretto in the circle was nearly untouchable – fanning the Eastern side four times over the game – and collected 14 strikeouts overall.
She allowed just four hits over the complete game effort.
“She’s young so I was really interested to see how she was going to comeback after that last performance, but she’s been pitching like that all season long,” said Hayes of Sciarretto. “She doesn’t seem bothered by the situation or the stage she was on today and she was just laser focused.”
Eastern’s Gracie D’Amato added a two-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to finally get the Lancers on the scoreboard, but it was all Central early with Sciarretto striking out the first five batters she faced.
On the flip side, Gwen Torreso jammed out an RBI single, Stancavage canned her two-run homer and Leah Sklenka belted an RBI double as Central led 4-0 after one completed frame.
In the second stanza, Kayla St. Onge (two runs scored) reached on an error, Kaley Laird walked, and Gwen Torreso was at it again – this time pumping out an RBI double to make it a 5-0 game.
Consecutive RBI tallies by Stancavage and Sophia Torreso then pushed the lead to 7-0 after two innings of work.
“I think we made some better adjustments knowing what we were going to see this time from Tellier,” said Hayes. “She jammed us real hard last time and we did a great job of fouling off balls, pulling them foul and then using the whole field. We just hit the heck out of the ball today.”
In the bottom of the third, the Gwen Torreso-Stancavage duo were at it again.
With ducks on the pond, Gwen Torreso and Stancavage blasted out back-to-back two RBI doubles and when the dust settled, Central’s lead was 11-0 through three completed frames.
“Offensively, they hit the ball all over the place,” said Redman. “When they didn’t hit it well, it found a hole and when they did hit it well, it went far.”
Sciarretto struck out the side in the third and fourth frames – allowing just one free pass to Jazmyn Browne in the third – and that 11-0 score loomed big on the board going into the fifth tilt.
But Eastern finally got its first hit of the game in the fifth with two outs.
And the Central defense wiped out the runner off some clever play from the outfield.
Alex Shorette placed a well-hit ball into right as Leah Sklenka made a great play on it but could not catch it off the start.
However, the fielder never gave up on the play, quickly throwing the ball into second base as Shorette was tagged out and off the slick 9-6 putout, the Rams snuffed out a potential rally.
“I thought that [play] was indicative of the type of team we have,” said Hayes. “They’ve been focused on being an entire team, not just [enjoying] individual success. To dive for the ball like that and make a team play and eliminate the runner that was on base, it was pretty awesome.”
And then in the bottom of the inning, after Sam Sklenka singled to get on base, Torreso dropped a ball over the fence in center at Central led it 13-0 through five.
Sciarretto again struck out the side in the sixth, Eastern had a 1-2-3 inning as well, and going into the top of the seventh, the Lancers refused to go out quietly.
With one out, Jasmine Perez singled to right, and Janessa Gonzalez sent one to left, as Eastern put two runners on.
And then D’Amato posted her two-RBI single, slapping a sharp ball into right, as Eastern got on the scoreboard but still trailed, 13-2.
“[I’m] happy to see her out there and competing,” said Redman of D’Amato. “We’re going to need everybody to hit a little bit better than today. I was happy to see [Grace] poke one through, breakup the shutout. We saw a little life in the last inning. That was nice but, obviously, too little too late.”
But one final pop-out ended the contest for the Rams as the Lancers absorbed a tough 11-run decision on the road.
“We knew Central was a good team,” said Redman. “Last game was a great pitcher’s duel. I would have liked to have had more chances. I would have liked to have competed a little bit more. The game was over in the second inning. That was a little rough. As much as we’re trying to battle back, [Sciarretto’s] mowing us down, we’re swinging at pitches over our heads, nowhere near the strike zone.”
Central qualified for the CCC Tournament later this the week, won its eighth straight game and avenged that tough early season loss to the Lancers.
“I’m just really proud of them from coming back after the heartbreak of the last game” against Eastern said Hayes. “To come back with all that at stake, I think that’s pretty impressive for these girls.”
