Young Lady Saints supply pitching, runs
Published 11:41 pm Wednesday, March 25, 2009
It was a varsity softball game between Windsor and Nansemond-Suffolk at NSA on Wednesday afternoon, but freshmen led the way for the Lady Saints to a 6-2 victory.
Freshman Morgan Daughtrey led NSA in the pitching circle, notching 10 strikeouts while allowing two unearned runs and four hits to Windsor.
Daughtrey filled in for sophomore Kelsey Ritter, who while of usual junior varsity age herself, has been the Saints’ main pitcher for two seasons heading into this spring.
The move, said NSA head coach Kim Aston, was not because of injury or is it for insurance should something happen later in the season.
“We’re trying to have (Daughtrey) pitch some as well. We have two good pitchers and I just want to get both of them in the flow early.
“Plus, Kelsey really likes to play shortstop, which is the position she plays for her travel team. It works well that they (Ritter and Daughtrey) can flip-flop between short and pitcher.”
Freshmen Brooke Starling, Amber Daniels and Daughtrey made up the top third of Aston’s batting order on Wednesday and three of the four times the top of the order came up, it meant runs for NSA.
In the first inning, Starling led off with a single and was on second with two outs when Ritter drove her around and in with a smashed grounder into center field.
In the NSA third, Starling drove a double to the fence in left-center field and Daniels followed with a slicing hit into the right field corner for an RBI triple.
Daniels scored on a wild pitch and the NSA rally continued with Daughtrey and Ritter both reaching via walks and coming around to score for a 5-0 NSA advantage.
Daughtrey’s only problem came in the Windsor sixth inning, and that was mainly because of a string of NSA miscues rather than Windsor finding a way to hit Daughtrey.
A dropped third strike, a throwing error by Daughtrey on a potential play at second, then a single into left field which turned into more with another NSA error equaled two Windsor runs.
NSA got one run back to its lead in the next half-inning with Starling scoring her third run of the game. A safety squeeze bunt by Daniels sacrificed Starling in from third.
NSA (2-0, 0-0) travels to Brunswick Academy on Friday afternoon.