In an exciting week for Andover Softball, the team came from behing against Cushing, closing a four-run gap in the bottom of the seventh to secure the 7-6 win. Against Tabor in the second game Saturday, Tristin Moone ’10 pitched a no-hitter and it a solo shot. Despite her efforts, miscues and a quieted Andover offense resulted in a 1-2 loss. On Wednesday, Andover regained its momentum, demolishing Exeter 19-0. In the first game of the doubleheader Saturday, Andover got off to a slow start and allowed Cushing to take the lead 6-2. In the bottom of the 7th, Andover finally strung together the offense necessary to win. Mackenzie Skwierczynski ‘12 led off the home half of the seventh with a walk. Kristin Mendez ’13, Co-Captain Sarah Onorato ’11, Moone, and Riley Gardner ‘10 all drove in runs to get the score even at six. Finally, Katie Benvenuti ‘12 smashed a ball that Cushing couldn’t handle to knock in Onorato for the walk-off victory. “In the bottom of the inning, the whole bench was up and everyone was one hundred percent in the game,” said Shannon McSweeney ’11. “With so much chatter from the bench, we performed well at the plate and pushed the five runs we needed across.” Abby Chung ’13 pitched the early innings against Cushing, and Moone cmae in to shut down to Cushing offense. After this exciting walk-off victory Andover faced Tabor. Moone was the only highlight of the game, as she hit a solo home run and pitched a no-hitter. However, defensive mistakes allowed Tabor to push across two runs, just enough to keep Andover from winning. “We had a couple of errors in the field that Tabor was able to capitalize on. We left the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh with the winning run at second. It was a tough way to end the day, but now we will learn from the situations we faced in the field and will work on capitalizing at the plate,” said McSweeney. “We expected good competition from Tabor, and our talent levels were pretty much equal. They just stayed more focused than we did, so they took the win,” said Mendez. Despite a disappointing end to Saturday, Andover came back ready to turn the tides against rival Exeter Wednesday. Andover battled through the wind and rain, posting five runs in the first innings and never looking back. Andover hitters contributed from top to bottom, and Chung pitched the full game. After plating more than 15 runs, Andover mercy-ruled Exeter by a final score of 19-0. Last Thurdsay, Andover faced Concord-Carlisle High School. In a game plagued by threats of thunderstorms, Andover never found its rhythm. Concord-Carlisle batters forced Moone’s pitch count to exceed 150 on the day with several double-digit pitch at-bats. In the sixth inning, Andover was finally able to put runners on base and runs on the board, as the bottom of the lineup came through once again. Benvenuti had a huge hit that drove in two runs. These were the only runs Andover would score, as the game ended 3-2. Andover will face Worcester Academy at home on Saturday.
