Cosmos continue to prove themselves

When the young Springfield softball team started the season off with a couple of wins there was some speculation that this may be a much better team than anticipated.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110420/SPORTS/704209909

Published April 20, 2011 in the Rutland Herald

Cosmos continue to prove themselves

By POODY WALSH

SPRINGFIELD — When the young Springfield softball team started the season off with a couple of wins there was some speculation that this may be a much better team than anticipated. Now, with Tuesday’s 11-0 win over Division I Mount Anthony that speculation has turned into a pleasant surprise.

Even Springfield coach Andy Bladyka admitted that he has been kind of caught unaware.

“I was particularly surprised today,” Bladyka said. “Last year we were 0-6 against Division I teams.”

The win brought Springfield to 4-0 and those numbers are just the beginning of what has been happening at Springfield. In the four wins, four different pitchers have picked up victories. Also the two runs that the Cosmos gave up in a 3-2 win at Otter Valley are the only two runs the team has given up all year. That’s three shutouts in four games and in high school softball that’s hard to do.

While the pitching of its young freshmen has perhaps caught most of the attention, the Cosmos are avoiding the things that put runs on the board for the opposition. The Cosmos two pitchers did walk four batters, but only two runners got as far as third base. And the Springfield defense did its part by not making any errors.

Mount Anthony came into the game at 2-1, but could not put anything together.

“We didn’t hit and we didn’t throw strikes,” said Mount Anthony coach Katie Contrada. “We also didn’t put the ball in play and if you don’t put the ball in play you don’t win many ballgames.”

The reason the Patriots didn’t put many balls in play was the Springfield pitching, which allowed just two hits. Starter Sara Locke went five-plus innings, giving up just an infield hit with six strikeouts and three bases on balls. When Locke walked the leadoff batter in the sixth inning, Bladyka made the change to Heather Sanborn, who finished up, allowing one hit with three strikeouts over the last two innings.

While the pitchers threw strikes and the defense picked up the ball, the offense also chipped in with a 5-0 lead after two innings and the Cosmos were never threatened.

It didn’t help the Patriots when cleanup hitter Katelyn Armstrong took a pitch off the fingers in the first inning and had to leave the game.

Mount Anthony used two pitchers with Lacey Parmenter starting. She left in the second inning for Jenna Crowley, who went the rest of the way.

“We just started out flat and finished flat,” said Contrada.

Even though Springfield had 11 runs, the Cosmos had just six hits. The Cosmos received 12 bases on balls with eight of the players who received free passes scoring.

For the most part Mount Anthony played pretty good defense. There were three errors, but there was also some nice glove work, particularly from third baseman Makayla Farrara.

Springfield’s Jessie Haskell was the only player in the game to have more than one hit as she had a double and a single, driving in three runs.

Parmenter and Abby Thiverge had the Mount Anthony hits.

Springfield goes to Hartford on Thursday while Mount Anthony is at Springfield in another Thursday game.