Southwick’s Mia Dellaguistina, third from left, is congratulated by teammates after blasting a towering wind-blown home run in the bottom of the first inning Wednesday. (Photo by Chris Putz)
SOUTHWICK – The Southwick High School softball team had a blast – three, in fact – belting three homers to down visiting Lee 16-1 in a mercy-shortened season opener on a blustery, sunshiny afternoon Wednesday.
Mia Dellaguistina, Devan Fox, and Brittany Penland each homered for Southwick.
Dellaguistina belted a towering wind-blown shot that carried over the head of the left fielder in the first inning to take an early 5-0 lead. Fox made it 8-0 later in the inning when she smacked a scorching ball that bounced past the left fielder in her second at-bat.
Penland’s third-inning homer gave Southwick a commanding 11-0 advantage. Five more runs from the Rams in the fourth inning put the mercy-rule in play.
“It was exciting,” said freshman pitcher Sara Hough, who allowed just one hit and finished with seven strikeouts over five innings. “I was a little nervous. Once we played together and talked, I was less nervous. We’re going to work together and do well.”
The team’s success this season will likely hinge on good communication, considering four to five freshmen are expected to start routinely. While three seniors figure to see the field this season, there are no juniors on the squad.
“The team that we played was a younger team,” Southwick softball head coach Joe Hough said, “but we’re a younger team so we’re kind of in a rebuilding mode as well.”
Coach Hough said he will let his players enjoy this victory for at least the next 24 hours. The Rams take on Division 1 foe, Northampton, Thursday at 4 p.m.
“We enjoy everything we do as a young team,” he explained. “We can’t get after them for every single mistake because they don’t even know what they don’t know yet.”
So sticking to the basics appears to be the primary objective.
“We just talk about – we don’t play the opponent; we just play the things that we work on,” coach Hough said. “There’s things to build on. …Games just give us opportunities to work on things in practice. That’s the only purpose of the game. Everything that we talked about doing in practice, we executed in the field (today). Obviously we are going to play older teams or Division 1 teams along the way. Some stuff will work and some of it will not. Games just give you opportunities to work on things.”
In time, that may lead to bigger, better things.
Said coach Hough: “Everything is just an opportunity to teach something new, put something in your bank of knowledge and then use it later on hopefully in their junior and senior years.”
GIRLS TENNIS
Lancers shut out Bombers
Longmeadow 5, Westfield 0
Westfield’s Clara Hinck battled valiantly, losing to Longmeadow’s Hallie Gallo at first singles, 6-3, 6-0. Bombers’ doubles pair, Thea Glenzel and Brigid Moriarty fell to Lancers’ Eleni Kollians and Alexa Moutafis, 6-1, 6-3.
LATE RESULTS – Tues., April 2
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Sabis def. Southwick 25-17, 25-23, 25-13
Grayson Poole (2 aces, 2 blocks), Andy Brown (6 kills, 3 digs), Nate Girard (4 kills), Tyler Gellert (2 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks), Nick Brown (1 dig, 1 block, 12 assists), and Mason Imbriglio (8 digs) led Southwick.
