Cosmos open season with 17-1 victory over Windsor

Springfield's experience trumped Windsor's youth as the Cosmos rolled to a 17-1, five-inning victory over the Yellowjackets in the season opener for both teams Friday.

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2016-04-09 / Sports Print article Print Cosmos open season with 17-1 victory over Windsor «» View full-size Springfield’s Jade Twombly fires off a pitch during Friday’s season opener against Windsor. — TIM TAYLOR http://www.eagletimes.com/sites/www.eagletimes.com/files/imagecache/full/SprSB-Twombley.jpghttp://www.eagletimes.com/sites/www.eagletimes.com/files/imagecache/full/WinSB-Williams.jpg By TIM TAYLOR sports@eagletimes.com WINDSOR — Springfield's experience trumped Windsor's youth as the Cosmos rolled to a 17-1, five-inning victory over the Yellowjackets in the season opener for both teams Friday. With pitcher Jade Twombly looking like she was already in mid-season form, the Jacks' inexperienced hitters didn't have much luck at the plate. The senior hurler fashioned a one-hitter, striking out 10 batters in the process and didn't surrender a single base on balls. Twombly had plenty of help as well. The Cosmos rapped out seven hits and also took advantage of Windsor's new pitching staff to the tune of 20 walks. Springfield also spotted Twombly a five-run advantage before she sever stepped into the pitching circle. Walks to Brooke Willey and Lina Geyer on each side of Calista Polidor's bunt single loaded the bases in the top of the first, and an illegal pitch to Twombly with one away brought home the game's initial run. Twombly would get on with a walk, and consecutive RBI walks from Hailey Rabtoy, Ari Rowe, Mykahla Jasinski and Hannah Crosby gave the Cosmos its 5-0 advantage. “Unfortunately, the Windsor kids struggled to throw strikes and that changes everything in a game like this,” said Springfield coach Andy Bladyka, who came knowing he wouldn't have to worry about his ace. “We have the luxury of having a pretty good pitcher-catcher [Twombly and Cassidy Otis] combination that we hope will keep us competitive while we're building,” he said. “Jade is one of those kids who puts the time in during the winter.” “She throws strikes,” Windsor coach Phil Hathorn said. “I started five freshmen who hadn't ever seen anything anything like that.” Twombly would retire the first four Yellowjackets, three by strikeout, before giving up the lone Jacks' hit in the bottom of the second. That came off the bat of Carrah Rugg, who singled past second with one out, but was left stranded at first. Springfield doubled its lead, to 10-0, in the second on runs by Geyer, Twombley, Jasinski, Rowe and Crosby. A throwing error pushed Geyer across with the first of the five runs and Polidor brought the last two runs in with a single over second. Otis would lead off the third with a walk and score on an RBI single to left by Jasinski to make it 11-0. Willey would single down the third base line to start off the fourth, but get stranded at third. In the fifth, the Cosmos erupted for their final six runs. A pair of errors, six walks and singles by Madee Stagner and Polidor (her third hit of the day) fueled the burst. Meanwhile, Twombly retired 11 of the last 14 batters she faced, and the others reached based on Cosmos miscues. Windsor put two runners on in the fourth on throwing errors and another on in the fifth on a fielding error. The fourth-inning miscues would pay off with a run. Emily Williams would lead off the Windsor half of the inning by reaching on an error, steal second and eventually score on a throwing error off the bat of Naila Thompson. Other than those three mistakes, the Cosmos' defense was pretty solid. “I've got five veteran players and four of them are right up the middle … today, actually all five were right up the middle, pitcher, catcher, second and short, and center field,” Bladyka said. “Those five started on a team that made it to the state finals last year. The rest of the team is very green right after you get past those five, but that's what coaching is all about.” As expected, both coaches saw things in the season opener that there teams still need to work on. “We've talked about responsibilities, but to really actually have to do them is a different story,” Hathorn said. “Our pitchers couldn't throw strikes. I knew that was going to be an issue way back at the beginning of March. It's still an issue. We'll remedy that and then we'll play a little better. We walked them around the first two innings. The third and fourth we played them fairly even, so that's something we can build on. And then Carrah got a little tired again in the fifth. “It's a lot to be expected of those freshmen. … My big girls didn't swing the bats as well as I thought they would. One through four should swing the bats a little better than they did today. It's early yet. We'll be better in May.” “Overall, we know that we have an awful lot of things to work on,” Bladyka said. “It wasn't perfect, that's for sure, but we've got a chance to learn a lot as far as base running with our younger kids … and we got everybody in the game, which is nice. We had some decent swings and jade threw the ball well.” Springfield makes the second leg of a four-game road trip Tuesday at Rutland. Windsor is off until April 19 when it hosts Brattleboro. Published April 9, 2016 in the Rutland Herald Sun shines on Springfield in 17-1 romp over Windsor By POODY WALSH WINDSOR — It was spitting snow when the game began, then it got gray and windy with temperatures in the low 40s as the game progressed with the sun peeping through at the game’s conclusion. Welcome to Vermont’s spring sports season. While it may have been unpleasant for most folks at the game, it couldn’t have been a better for Jade Twombly and her Springfield teammates as the Cosmos walked their way to a 17-1 win in five innings over Windsor in the chilly opener for both teams on Friday. Even though Springfield received 20 walks from two Windsor pitchers, the story of the game was Springfield’s hurler, Twombly. The slender right-hander, who throws her curve just as quick as her fastball, also has a break-your-back changeup that led to a nine-strikeout, one-hit gem on just 74 pitches, 53 for strikes. Twombly admits that she relies on the curve a lot. “Maybe a little too much,” she said, adding that she probably throws more curves than fastballs. “I love that pitch.” “Whatever accolades she gets, she deserves,” said her coach, Andy Bladyka. “She works at it in the offseason, sometimes twice a week with her father.” The only hit off Twombly was a crisp one-out single to right by Carrah Rugg in the second inning. She did not walk a batter and had just two three-ball counts. The game was called after the fifth inning by the 15-run mercy rule. Windsor coach Phil Hathorn has been as this coaching business now for a few years and he knows that if his pitchers don’t throw strikes there is not much hope and with 20 bases on balls Friday he knows that there is some work to be done. “We walked them around the bases in the first inning (seven walks, five runs), then Carrah (reliever Rugg) settled down before tiring later,” said Hathorn who had five freshmen on the field. “We’ve got some work to do, but we’ll get better.” One of the areas he would like to see his team get better at is the one though four batters (seven strikeouts) making more contact. “They have to do better at putting the ball in play,” he said. After scoring five runs in the first off Windsor starter Emily Williams, Springfield added five more in the second off Rugg and one in the third then put the game in the mercy mode with six in the fifth. Springfield finished up with just six hits with Calista Polidor the only multiple-hit Cosmo with three singles and four runs batted in. The game had lot of early-season things including illegal pitches and a runner leaving the base too early to end an inning. Windsor’s only run came in the fourth on two errors with a Williams stolen base in between the miscues. There was a couple of bright pitching spots for Windsor. In the first inning Springfield had five runs in and the bases loaded with one out. Rugg came into the game at that point and a fly ball and a strikeout to get out of the inning. She also faced just four batters in the fourth inning. Springfield’s program continues to flourish with a state championship in 2011 and a trip to the finals in 2015. Bladyka plans on keeping things going for a while longer. “Some schools do not have a junior varsity program,” he said. “We have 15 freshmen playing junior varsity.” Windsor is off until April 19 when it hosts Brattleboro. Springfield goes to Rutland on Tuesday.