Co-Captain Ravenne Nasser ’15 struck out seven batters and gave up only one earned run en route to a complete seven-inning game. Nasser’s strong effort resulted in a 4-2 win over Lowell High to conclude Andover Girls Softball’s preseason on Monday. On Wednesday, however, Andover fell 5-0 to Nobles in its first official game of the season. Against Lowell on Monday, Nasser said she “[tended] to work fastballs in to get ahead and then try to get kids out with change ups and drop curves, especially for strikeouts.” Andover scrapped for runs and took advantage of Lowell’s mistakes, scoring two runs on passed balls. Nasser tacked on a run as well, fighting off a 1-2 screwball over the inside corner up the middle for an RBI single in the fifth inning. Victoria Bergeron ’16, normally a shortstop, proved a stronghold at second base in the wake of an injury to second baseman Madi Bradford ’17, who was hit in the hand with a pitch on Andover’s play-day on Saturday. Co-Captain Kasey Hartung ’14 executed key stops at third base as well. “As an infielder, it’s my duty to make the routine plays and even the difficult plays, to help out the pitcher and the team, and today I was able to do that,” said Bergeron. On Wednesday, Nobles kept steady pressure on Andover, stayed patient at the plate, and took advantage of defensive miscues. By the end of Nasser’s six-inning outing, Nobles had worked the starter for 117 pitches and a 5-0 deficit. Jen Kaplan ’15 came in and closed out the game for Andover, pitching a scoreless seventh inning. “Nobles was a strong team, but we did a good job staying in the game up until the sixth inning,” said Kaplan. Bergeron, one of the lone bright lights of the day, went 2-3, her only out of the day a narrowly missed double in the fifth inning. Bergeron ripped a 2-2 fastball to dead center that was robbed on a running over-the-shoulder grab by the Nobles centerfielder. Andover will return to the field Friday, for a matinee away at Governor’s Academy .
