CRAFTSBURY – The Craftsbury Academy (CA) softball team is still looking for an offensive spark five games into the season after dropping a pair of games to Twinfield-Cabot-Danville (CCSU) and Oxbow last week to fall to 0-5 on the season.
CCSU broke open a tight game with a pair of five run innings to close out the Lady Chargers 15-5 on the road last Tuesday.
Sophia Mancini had a pair of hits to lead the Lady Trojans, including a two-run single in the first to give the visitors an early 3-0 advantage.
Kendall Hale earned the win in the circle for CCSU, who improved to 1-3 on the season.
Sophia Augsberger led CA’s offense with a single and a double. Savannah Boyce added a double and Sadie Skorstad belted a two-run double.
Hazen Union’s Serenity Leach struck out six for her first varsity start in the loss to CA.
“Serenity did a nice job for us in her first start after a nervous first inning. It could have been a much different game, but we just weren’t able to close it out the way we had planned to going in. We just need to get more experience with our rotation and continue to build confidence to get comfortable closing out games,” said head coach Ashley Gravel.
Three-time Division III defending champion Oxbow continued to run rough shod over the Mountain League, blanking the Lady Chargers 20-0 at home on Thursday.
Noemi Rosa was perfection in the circle, striking out 10 without allowing a base runner in five innings of work. Maize Bourgeois drove in five runs for Oxbow with a 4-4 performance at the plate and teammate Anastase Bourgeois was equally as impressive with a home run and a double.
Abby Longto drove in four more runs with a pair of doubles and Faith Eastman went 2-3 with a double in the win. The Lady Olympians are coming off a perfect 19-0 season from their championship run last spring, reeling off six straight wins to start the season and outscoring their opponents 96-3 along the way.
“With such a large roster this season, we took the opportunity to give some of our younger players a chance to play against Oxbow. They earned it with the commitment and determination that they’ve shown in practice. We are going to continue to move forward next week as a team and I know that when this great group of girls come together and show up for themselves and each other, they are fierce. We have had a couple close games that I know the second time around will look different and our starting lineup will continue to take shape with players that show the commitment to the team that they want that spot,” said Gravel.
Gravel’s squad will be back in action on Saturday in a Mountain League match-up at BFA-Fairfax.
