Titans' late hit not enough to overcome Lincoln

By Ryan D. Murray
Posted 4/17/18

By RYAN D. MURRAY The Toll Gate Titans softball squad fell to the Lincoln Lions 9-3 on Thursday evening at Winslow Park. Both starting pitchers went the distance with Lincoln sophomore Molly Thibaudeau, earning the win after striking out four while

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Titans' late hit not enough to overcome Lincoln

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The Toll Gate Titans softball squad fell to the Lincoln Lions 9-3 on Thursday evening at Winslow Park.

Both starting pitchers went the distance with Lincoln sophomore Molly Thibaudeau, earning the win after striking out four while allowing seven hits.

Thibaudeau got the Titan hitters to ground out quite often during the contest.

“We had a slow start with the bats, but they seemed to wake up as the game went on,” Toll Gate head coach Shana Willis said.  “We were hitting the ball right at people and finally the hits started falling through in the last two innings, but it was two innings too late.”

Titans junior Katelyn Hawes took the loss in the circle, yielding 11 hits with three strikeouts and five walks.

Lincoln had a pair of juniors leading the way with Grace Swanson contributing three singles and two runs batted in and her teammate Riley Riendeau had a single, double and a sacrifice fly with two RBI.

Willis thought Hawes got better as the game went on.

 “I think that they hit her well the first inning, but after that she was able to mix up her pitches and she did a great job the last five keeping them only scoring one run,” Willis said.

Hawes also added an RBI with her bat.

“She got a nice hit for us,” Willis said. “It was a great spot for her to be in to help us on both sides of the game.”

Toll Gate’s Mallorie Link and Hannah Northup each added an RBI, but it wasn’t enough.

“They came through with some great hits with runners on base,” Willis said. “I just wish we could have had a couple more when we had those runners. So, it was great, the girls don’t give up. We play seven full innings; it’s just that we need to start scoring more runs sooner in the game.”

Lincoln led off the game with three straight hits. The last was an RBI single from Riendeau that put Lincoln up 1-0. Soon after, Lincoln loaded the bases and an error by Link, Toll Gate’s catcher, allowed a second run in.

Lincoln added two more runs in the inning when Gabrielle Smith and Jenna Burlingame each added an RBI to increase their team’s edge to 4-0.

In the top of the second, Lincoln padded its lead when with the bases loaded; Swanson blasted a 2-run single up the middle. Then, with runners at the corners, Riendeau launched a sacrifice fly to right to bring home a run, making it 7-0.

Lincoln scored two more runs in the top of the fourth. First, Emily Kennedy batted a shot to right for a double. Next, Lombardi moved Kennedy to third with a bunt before she trotted home with the eighth run after a Toll Gate error at first. Then, with a runner at second, Riendeau launched an RBI double to left and increased Lincoln’s lead to 9-0.

Toll Gate got one back in the bottom of the fifth when Link walked before moving up on a passed ball. Then, Mary Greenwell moved Link over to third with a sacrifice bunt. Finally, Hawes drove her home with a single, pulling the Titans within 9-1,

Toll Gate led off the bottom of the sixth with a pair of singles. Then, with one out, Link drove in Alexis LeBelle and pulled within 2-1.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Titans tacked on another run. With runners at the corners, Northup hit an RBI single and drove in Kendra Silva from third to get within 9-3.

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