For the first two games of the season, the Gateway Regional softball team managed to get by a pair of lesser foes easily. The Lady Gators outclassed Smith Academy 16-3 and outmatched Southwick-Tolland 12-8.
Yesterday, Ware outscored Gateway in a battle of 2011 league co-champs, 8-1, behind the solid pitching of Veronica Shader (6 Ks, 1 hit allowed). Gators’ pitcher Brooke Fairman was let down by fielding errors early as the Indians scored four unearned runs in the first inning.
Ashley Fricke broke open the game for Ware (2-0) in the second inning on a booming two-run triple, providing the team with a commanding 6-1 lead. The Indians added one run in each of the fourth and sixth innings.
Fairman broke up Shader’s no-hit bid in the sixth inning on a screaming liner to right-center field. She advanced to second base on a fielder’s choice, moved to third on a passed ball before a ground-out left her stranded in scoring position.
Gateway made a nice defensive play in the fourth inning when center fielder Jamie Pease caught a fly ball and doubled up a Ware baserunner scrambling to get back to first base. First baseman Liz Simonowicz completed the double play.
Pease also manufactured the team’s only run in the first inning, scoring on a passed ball.
“We hurt ourselves,” Gateway coach Mike Mason said. “And we did not have enough collective hits. You don’t beat a pitcher of that caliber without any hits.”
