Woodsville
Taylor seemed to know it was coming, launching a scorcher into deep right-center field for a bases-clearing triple to put Moultonborough ahead for the second time Tuesday afternoon. Prest, a sophomore, found her rhythm in the final three innings, but Woodsville’s offense reached base only once after that as the Engineers fell, 4-2, at Woodsville Elementary School.
“That was just one bad pitch call on my part,” Huntington said. “Just a terrible idea. She hammered it.”
The defeat snapped a three-game winning streak for Woodsville dating back to May 16 and dropped the team to 10-5 in a clogged race for postseason positioning in New Hampshire Division IV. All five of the Engineers’ losses this season have come against the division’s top teams, Gorham (13-1), Lisbon (12-3) and Moultonborough (12-3).
With Tuesday’s loss, Woodsville likely will be a visiting team in the D-IV tournament once its regular season wraps up Friday at Groveton (2-11).
“Honestly, I was hoping for a couple less losses to get us in the middle of that group of top teams,” Huntington said.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m confident whether it’s one through nine in our division, anybody can beat anybody. I think, going forward, you’ll see a lot of upsets.”
Taylor opened the scoring for Moultonborough in the first inning, scoring on an RBI triple from Madison Greene. Prest said it took a while for her to adjust in the circle, but she started to find her groove after the shaky start.
“Usually the fourth inning … is kind of difficult,” Prest said. “But the end, the adrenaline kind of kicks in.
“We played really well together; we had a lot of communication in the dugout,” she added. “Usually we’re upbeat, but this was senior night. Everyone really wanted it.”
Woodsville answered in the second and third innings. In the second, the Engineers’ Tori Clough came home on a wild pitch from Moultonborough pitcher Greene. Woodsville followed up in the third with an RBI double by Duling that brought Suzy Bazzell home from second base to take a 2-1 lead.
“The girls came out confident and fighting,” Huntington said. “You’ve just got to string together a couple of runs in order to be successful. Against a pitcher like (Greene), it’s hard to do that.
“(We have to) bunch a few hits together,” he added. “Just get two or three hits in a row, that’s how we were able to bunch a few runs together. They had the one big, key hit. In close games like this, that’s usually the difference.”
Prest finished the game with three strikeouts, allowing six hits and four earned runs in seven innings. Greene recorded eight strikeouts for Moultonborough.
“Maddy Greene is just tough as nails,” Huntington said of Moultonborough’s pitcher. “It’s great to see a kid that works as hard as she does and plays the game right. … She does it the way it should be done.”
Huntington is hoping they’ve caught a similar lightning in a familiar bottle with Prest, who is finishing up her first season as the go-to starter with the Engineers. It’s taken a while to adjust to the spotlight, she said. But 15 games in, Prest said she’s starting to figure things out.
“This was one of my better games pitching,” she said. “The pressure kind of helps me sometimes.
“This has been such a learning experience,” Prest added. “I never assume I’m going to start; I always ask my coaches. I’m just not used to being the main pitcher. … I have a lot of power in the circle. If I walk a lot, it’s going to determine how the game is going to go. It’s kind of crazy.”
The Engineers are counting on Prest to finish strong, particularly against what will be, in all likelihood, an early playoff matchup against one of the top teams in D-IV. Huntington said his team has to find a way to get over the hump against the division’s elite. Woodsville hasn’t yet this season.
But with Prest’s development and a strong group of underclassmen, Huntington said he’s encouraged that the team still is built for the future.
“I’ve got four sophomores that played the entire year on varsity as freshmen (Prest, Bazzell, Maggie Daly and Kyleigh Lamarre),” Huntington said. “That will make for a good, solid core going forward.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.