Sports
YellowJacket Softball Falls To Pacers
An early lead was not enough to overcome Sacred Heart Academy.
Sacred Heart Academy earned their second win of the season on a cold blustery spring afternoon as the East Haven softball team played host for the first time in the 2011 season.
East Haven took the lead in the second inning when senior catcher Amy DePalma started things off with a line-drive single to left. YellowJacket head coach Ed Crisafi called for the bunt from his freshman center fielder Jenna Gaudioso on two consecutive pitches but she couldn't put one down, so she did the next best thing and lined a two-run homer past the center-field fence to give East Haven a 2-0 lead.
Those two runs held up until the top of the fourth inning when Sacred Heart's senior first baseman Katie Winkle got things going for the Pacers with a one out single up the middle. Senior catcher Angelika Stamos followed with another single to center and then was ran for by Gina Valentine. After a pop-out to second and a wild pitch moved up both runners, senior center-fielder Lindsey Thompspon popped one to third for what appeared to be an easy out to end the inning, but it was dropped by East Haven's Veronica Hribko. Winkle scored and Valentine moved to third before senior right=fielder Krista Esposito ripped a two-run double to the right center field fence to put the Pacers in front by a score of 3-2.
Freshman pitcher Molly Flowers came in to start the third inning for Sacred Heart and pitched the last five innings in relief, and struck out 10 while earning the win allowing only one run in the seventh inning on a wild pitch.
The Pacers plated three additional runs in their half of the seventh off YellowJacket starter and losing pitcher Amanda Bradley who pitched a complete game while taking the loss. With two outs and women on first and second, a ground ball to third was not fielded cleanly by East Haven's Hribko so the bases were loaded and the inning was allowed to continue. The Pacers cashed in when Angleika Stamos drove a double to the center-field fence to plate a pair and later scored on a wild pitch.
Stamos finished the game with three hits and two RBI for the Pacers, who improve to 2-0 with the 6-3 win, while East Haven drops to 1-1.
