Tornado softball dominates in their first home sectional matchup in recent memory
Frank Speziale Photo
Pictured is a meeting at home plate of the two head coaches and the umpire prior to the start of the sectional matchup. Seen to the right of Norwich's head coach Scott Moore is seniors: Hannah Eddy number 40, Kassidy Seary number 8, and Jordan Sanford number 12.
NORWICH – The Norwich varsity softball team claimed a fourth seed in the Section IV Class B tournament, earning the privilege of hosting Waverly on May 24, dominating The Wolverines 11-1 for the win.
The impressive 11-1 win over Waverly becomes that much more eye-opening on the potential of the 2016 Tornado softball team, when you factor in the statistic that only one player currently on the roster has seen action in a playoff softball game prior to this recent win.
“The girls played good tonight, they finally came back to life,” said Norwich head coach Scott Moore. “I showed up at the school today and told them all to talk about what this game means for 10-minutes then come to the field, I wanted everyone on the same page. I don’t know if it worked or not, but they were ready to get going tonight.”
Senior Shannon Moore would step to the plate first for The Tornado, ultimately hitting a line drive to the short stop for the out.
“She (Shannon) hit it hard and square, the girl just took one step and snagged it out of the air. Everyone after that made good contact too,” said coach Moore. “Gabby (Mirabito) got up and laid down a bunt which made them read the play and she reached on an error. We steamrolled from there.”
It was some of the seniors who came through early for Norwich, following Mirabito reaching the base on an error, it was senior Jordan Sanford who knocked a double to left field to advance Mirabito to third.
Fellow senior Kassidy Seary took her opportunity at the plate next, sending Mirabito home for the first of many runs on the night. While senior Hannah Eddy saw some action with the ball early as well when she connected with a single to left field to send Alex Colley (Courtesy Runner for Sanford) home, as Norwich took the early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and would not look back from that point on.
“Jordan probably had the best game she has had this year, Hannah had a good game at the plate, they all batted well,” said coach Moore.
Pitching for Norwich was Eddy for the whole seven inning, where she completed a stellar game holding the Waverly batters to just three hits after the first inning (total of five hits), while securing three innings of three strikeouts. Eddy tossed out a solid stat line for the day securing nine strikeouts, with only one walk.
Eddy and her defensive group, blanked The Wolverines all the way until the sixth inning when they finally managed to score one run, avoiding the shutout.
“Hannah (Eddy) pitched awesome, she was on tonight,” said coach Moore. “We got runs on the board on offense, and Hannah is a different pitcher when she has that run lead.”
Pitching for Waverly was Wendi Hammonds, who attempted to hold her own against the high powered Norwich batters. Hammonds threw out a solid five strikeouts to just two walks, but allowed the Norwich batters to have their way the plate as they connected for eleven total hits.
“Their pitcher was decent,” said coach Moore. “They had seven errors in the game, and we were taking advantage of them, we were doing good getting the extra bases on the overthrows.”
Norwich would secure a dominating lead before Waverly claimed their one run, as The Tornado would see multiple runs scored in nearly each of the first five innings.
Norwich batters: Shannon Moore 1-4 with a run and an RBI, Gabby Mirabito 0-5 with a run, Jordan Sanford 3-4 with a run and two RBI's, Alex Colley 2-3 with a run, Kassidy Seary 1-4 with two runs and an RBI, Hannah Eddy 3-4 with two runs and three RBI's, Airelle Jacquette 0-3 with a run and an RBI, Morgan Conkling 1-3 with a run, and Bridget Murphy 0-4 with a run scored.
In the 11-1 domination of Waverly, Norwich (11-9) will now move on to travel to number one seeded Susquehanna Valley. The game is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday May 26.
“I have been trying to spark something with them, and sunday night I held a practice. I told the girls who have played in sectionals in basketball, 'you guys know what it takes right now, so we have to get the rest of them ready for that level.'” said coach Moore. “Other coaches told me you have to play small ball with them, and we did good tonight with that. We bunted tonight a few times, we got the ball down, beat some out on some errant throws and that is all it takes.”
Norwich will be facing Sus. Valley for the third time this season when Thursday evening rolls around. Previously, Norwich lost to Sus. Valley on opening day 7-0 and then lost again mid-season 3-1.
“They have got good pitcher, a couple of good bats. They bunt the ball some, and play small ball. But they have good pitching,” said coach Moore. “But we're pretty good, when everything is clicking we're pretty good.”
N: 2 3 1 2 3 0 0– 11
W: 0 0 0 0 0 1 0– 1
Pictured is a meeting at home plate of the two head coaches and the umpire prior to the start of the sectional matchup. Seen to the right of Norwich's head coach Scott Moore is seniors: Hannah Eddy number 40, Kassidy Seary number 8, and Jordan Sanford number 12.
NORWICH – The Norwich varsity softball team claimed a fourth seed in the Section IV Class B tournament, earning the privilege of hosting Waverly on May 24, dominating The Wolverines 11-1 for the win.
The impressive 11-1 win over Waverly becomes that much more eye-opening on the potential of the 2016 Tornado softball team, when you factor in the statistic that only one player currently on the roster has seen action in a playoff softball game prior to this recent win.
“The girls played good tonight, they finally came back to life,” said Norwich head coach Scott Moore. “I showed up at the school today and told them all to talk about what this game means for 10-minutes then come to the field, I wanted everyone on the same page. I don’t know if it worked or not, but they were ready to get going tonight.”
Senior Shannon Moore would step to the plate first for The Tornado, ultimately hitting a line drive to the short stop for the out.
“She (Shannon) hit it hard and square, the girl just took one step and snagged it out of the air. Everyone after that made good contact too,” said coach Moore. “Gabby (Mirabito) got up and laid down a bunt which made them read the play and she reached on an error. We steamrolled from there.”
It was some of the seniors who came through early for Norwich, following Mirabito reaching the base on an error, it was senior Jordan Sanford who knocked a double to left field to advance Mirabito to third.
Fellow senior Kassidy Seary took her opportunity at the plate next, sending Mirabito home for the first of many runs on the night. While senior Hannah Eddy saw some action with the ball early as well when she connected with a single to left field to send Alex Colley (Courtesy Runner for Sanford) home, as Norwich took the early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and would not look back from that point on.
“Jordan probably had the best game she has had this year, Hannah had a good game at the plate, they all batted well,” said coach Moore.
Pitching for Norwich was Eddy for the whole seven inning, where she completed a stellar game holding the Waverly batters to just three hits after the first inning (total of five hits), while securing three innings of three strikeouts. Eddy tossed out a solid stat line for the day securing nine strikeouts, with only one walk.
Eddy and her defensive group, blanked The Wolverines all the way until the sixth inning when they finally managed to score one run, avoiding the shutout.
“Hannah (Eddy) pitched awesome, she was on tonight,” said coach Moore. “We got runs on the board on offense, and Hannah is a different pitcher when she has that run lead.”
Pitching for Waverly was Wendi Hammonds, who attempted to hold her own against the high powered Norwich batters. Hammonds threw out a solid five strikeouts to just two walks, but allowed the Norwich batters to have their way the plate as they connected for eleven total hits.
“Their pitcher was decent,” said coach Moore. “They had seven errors in the game, and we were taking advantage of them, we were doing good getting the extra bases on the overthrows.”
Norwich would secure a dominating lead before Waverly claimed their one run, as The Tornado would see multiple runs scored in nearly each of the first five innings.
Norwich batters: Shannon Moore 1-4 with a run and an RBI, Gabby Mirabito 0-5 with a run, Jordan Sanford 3-4 with a run and two RBI's, Alex Colley 2-3 with a run, Kassidy Seary 1-4 with two runs and an RBI, Hannah Eddy 3-4 with two runs and three RBI's, Airelle Jacquette 0-3 with a run and an RBI, Morgan Conkling 1-3 with a run, and Bridget Murphy 0-4 with a run scored.
In the 11-1 domination of Waverly, Norwich (11-9) will now move on to travel to number one seeded Susquehanna Valley. The game is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday May 26.
“I have been trying to spark something with them, and sunday night I held a practice. I told the girls who have played in sectionals in basketball, 'you guys know what it takes right now, so we have to get the rest of them ready for that level.'” said coach Moore. “Other coaches told me you have to play small ball with them, and we did good tonight with that. We bunted tonight a few times, we got the ball down, beat some out on some errant throws and that is all it takes.”
Norwich will be facing Sus. Valley for the third time this season when Thursday evening rolls around. Previously, Norwich lost to Sus. Valley on opening day 7-0 and then lost again mid-season 3-1.
“They have got good pitcher, a couple of good bats. They bunt the ball some, and play small ball. But they have good pitching,” said coach Moore. “But we're pretty good, when everything is clicking we're pretty good.”
N: 2 3 1 2 3 0 0– 11
W: 0 0 0 0 0 1 0– 1
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