PEMBROKE – Ashley Gladu has had it fairly easy over her first three weeks as Pembroke’s varsity softball coach. And that’s fine by her.
Gladu’s Spartans headed into Wednesday’s matchup with wins in four of their first five games, outscoring opponents 75-9 during that span behind some consistent hitting up and down their lineup.
But on Tuesday, with 4-2 Kingswood in town, Gladu said she was looking forward to facing a little more of a challenge.
“We were looking forward to this one a lot,” Gladu said after her team’s 6-1 victory. “The past two games we didn’t see great pitching, so we were looking forward to seeing someone a little quicker, and working on driving the ball up the middle.”
And drive they did, as Gladu’s Spartans notched five timely hits off Kingswood ace Maddison Rabideau, and defended their way to a fourth straight victory behind a 10-strikeout effort from Lexi Palmisano to improve to 5-1 on the year.
Pembroke crossed the plate with the game’s first run when a hard-hit ball off the bat of Rachel Denoncourt plated Bri Connolly (double) in the first. An inning later, Connolly delivered an RBI single that scored what proved to be the game-winning run.
The Spartans added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth with help from a trio of Kingswood miscues, and added another pair in the sixth on a fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly from Danielle Parent. Connolly led Pembroke with two hits in the contest, while Madison Bush, Steph Berube and Kayla Paquin each finished with one.
“We don’t have any holes in our lineup batting wise, and we don’t have any defensive wise either,” Gladu said. “It’s hard to get the ball by them.”
That was never more evident than in the top of the fourth with the home team clinging to a 2-1 lead and the potential tying run on second with just one out. But the threat was short lived as Denoncourt reeled in a hard line drive at second base and instinctively tossed the ball to shortstop Bri Whitcomb on the bag at second for the inning-ending double play.
From there, it was all Palmisano as the senior allowed just one base runner over the game’s final three innings to eliminate any possibility of a comeback. Palmisano surrendered five hits in all, and didn’t walk a batter.
“She’s awesome,” Gladu said of her team’s ace. “We’re a much better team defensively with her on the mound. When she’s on the mound, we’re tough to beat.”
Kingswood scored its lone run in the second inning. the Knights opened the frame and plated their only run on a fielder’s choice RBI to knot things at 1-1.
“This is the kind of outing we were hoping for,” Galdu said. “Hopefully we can build on this and keep it going.”
From coaches’ reports
Concord 11, Nashua South 0
Key players: Concord – Delia Barry (5 IP, 4 hits, 5 K), Abby Rochette (2 IP, no hits, 5 K), Haley Monroe (hit, 2 RBI), Fran Redlon (2-for-2, 2 RBI), Sam Clapp (2 hits)
Highlights/key moments: The Tide scored seven runs on seven hits in the first three innings to take control early. The Tide defense had no errors and only allowed one Purple Panther to reach third base.
Coach’s quote: “South played hard until the last out. Good pitching, defense and hitting is hard to beat.” – Concord’s Duke Sawyer
Records: Concord 3-4; South 9-7
Nashua South 8, Concord 5
Key players: Concord – Stephan Moran (2 hits, 2 RBI), Christian McClellan (2 hits), Jake Kelly (hit, 2 RBI), Noah Wachter (5 IP, 6 hits, 4 K)
Highlights/key moments: Wachter pitched well and Moran’s two-run single in the top of the fourth gave the Tide a lead, but the Purple Panthers came back to take the win.
Coach’s quote: “Noah pitched well and we hit the ball hard today. A lot of loud outs but we had a few chances we did not capitalize on. We need to get better defensively we are giving away to many runs.” – Concord’s Scott Owen
Records: Concord 3-3; South 3-4
Kingswood 10, Pembroke 0
Key players: Pembroke – Justin Legere (first career varsity hit and stolen base)
Highlights/key moments: The Spartans dropped their fifth straight in a loss at home to the Knights.
Records: Pembroke 0-5; Kingswood 5-1
Sunapee 12, Pittsfield 9
Key players: Pittsfield – Jesse Slater (2-for-2, 2 runs, 2 walks, stolen base), Devin Bedell (2-for-3, 2 doubles), Kyle Hamel (double, 2 RBI)
Highlights/key moments: Pittsfield battled back from a 4-0 deficit to take a 5-4 lead in the bottom of first and from an 8-5 deficit in the second to take a 9-8 lead. But the Lakers pitched well down the stretch and scored enough runs to secure the win.
Coach’s quote: “The boys battled hard once again against a tough Sunapee team tonight. Devin worked really hard tonight for us and was asked to pitch against a very stout line up, which was asking a lot from an eighth grader but he kept his composure and never gave up and gave our team much needed innings and our other pitchers much needed rest.” – Pittsfield’s Rob Stockman
Records: Pittsfield 4-4; Sunapee 4-1
Pinkerton 17, Concord 2
Key players: Concord – Morgan Sisson (played great in goal), Brenna Vandersea (goal), Maggie Connolly (goal)
Highlights/key moments: Sisson played well in goal, but the Tide fell to one of D-I’s top programs.
Records: Concord 2-3; Pinkerton 4-2
Hanover 10, Concord 4
Key players: Concord – Spencer Burgess (goal, assist), Dan Rydell (goal), Alex Marceau (goal), Dan Kelleher (goal), Ethan Donlon (16 saves)
Highlights/key moments: The Tide dropped its second straight while the Marauders evened their record to .500.
Records: Concord 3-4; Hanover 3-3