Claremont
With a 6-0 win over Mascoma on Monday night, the Stevens High softball team is not only 9-0 but has outscored its foes, 119-11. The Cardinals also have a couple of other doozy numbers: In nine games, Stevens pitchers have walked only eight batters, and the Cards’ defense has made just eight errors.
“It’s not rocket science,” said Stevens coach Missy Nichols, who has been preaching by-the-basics softball for 16 years.
It’s a message the Cardinals have taken to heart.
Stevens has not seen a team like this since the 2012 club that made it all the way to the NHIAA Division III championship game with just one defeat before losing to White Mountains in the finals. The only team the Cardinals lost to during that regular season was last night’s opponent, and the home plate umpire in the title game was Hank Tenney, who was behind the plate at Veterans Park on Monday night.
In spite of the 9-0 start, Nichols is pumping the Cards’ brakes a bit. Stevens’ cluster schedule this spring has come without some of the top teams in the state. The slate will get a little tougher on Friday when the Cardinals play their annual home-and-home doubleheader with Newport (5-0), the Tigers hosting at 3:30 p.m. before a 7 p.m. rematch at Veterans.
“Those are a couple of huge games,” said Nichols.
In addition to Newport and Stevens, White Mountains (8-0) and Campbell (7-0) are also unbeaten. It is a big, talented division hosting 10 teams with two losses or fewer.
Stevens beat Mascoma, 13-1, on April 20, but this was a different Mascoma team that came to Stevens on Monday night.
“It was 20 below that day,” said Nichols euphemistically. “And they had a different pitcher this time.”
Sophomore Sam Pecararo kept the Royals (2-4) in the contest. Although she gave up all six runs, only two were earned.
“We just made some bad plays at bad times,” said Mascoma coach Bill O’Connell. “It was not her fault we lost tonight.”
Despite the outcome, O’Connell likes what he has.
“This is not a job coaching these kids,” he added. “It’s recreational fun.”
Junior pitcher Maddy Lapsley also had a blast for Stevens, spinning a two-hit shutout with nine strikeouts and just one walk over 87 pitches.
“Yes, this was fun,” said Lapsley. “It’s been fun all year. We have been doing things the right way, and it shows.”
Nichols was not particularly happy the way her team played. “This wasn’t pretty,” the coach said, “and I could tell during our warmups it was not going to a great night.”
What was disturbing to Nichols was some routine plays, including some outfield flies that were not handled. “We’ve got to tighten things up,” she said.
However, there was certainly nothing she could fault with Lapsley’s effort. “She was great tonight, and our pitching has been great all year,” Nichols said.
Stevens’ Alexis Ford made a fine grab of a ball in left-field foul territory during the contest. But the standout defensive play of the night belonged to the Cards’ Kate Chambers, who leaped toward the second-bad bag to snag a ripped line drive off the bat of Mascoma’s Renee French in the seventh inning.
Stevens scored single unearned runs in each of the first three innings. The Cards scored twice more in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead, and Chambers lashed a solo homer down the line in right in the fifth.
Stevens’ Makayla Maccioli, a rock behind the plate defensively, also had three singles and scored two runs. Lapsley had two hits and Zoey Foote, who ran for her, scored both times. Jenna Pond had a three-bagger.
Abby Duhaime and Raeleigh Mansur had the hits for Mascoma, which heads to Gilford on Wednesday.