Softball: Mattituck’s youth shows in the form of five errors
WHALERS 11, TUCKERS 4
The Mattituck Tuckers wear varsity softball uniforms and play a varsity schedule, but every once in a while, a reminder is served that, age-wise, this could easily be a junior varsity team.
After hanging with Pierson/Bridgehampton, one of the top teams in Suffolk County League V, for six innings on Monday, the Tuckers received a reminder of their youth at an inopportune time. Pierson/Bridgehampton blew open a 6-4 game with a five-run burst in the seventh for an 11-4 win at Mattituck High School. Isabel Peters and Kasey Gilbride both brought in their second run batted in of the game during the rally as miscues proved to be Mattituck’s undoing, helping Pierson/Bridgehampton (8-2, 8-2) to its fourth straight win.
The Tuckers (3-7, 3-7), who absorbed their sixth loss in seven games, did some good things. They actually outhit the Whalers, 6-5, and didn’t get a bad pitching performance from Lisa Angell.
The Tuckers even staged an impressive two-out rally in the third inning. After their first two batters were retired, they produced four hits, most notably a run-scoring double clubbed by Rachel Voegel and an RBI single by Angell, for a three-run surge and a 4-2 lead.
It was errors, however, that proved their undoing. Five of them.
Because of those miscues, seven of Pierson/Bridgehampton’s runs were unearned.
Pierson/Bridgehampton staged a four-run rally in the fourth, and it didn’t even need a hit to plate those runs. For one thing, three Mattituck errors helped fuel that charge. Two runs scored on a dropped popup, another came home on a wild pitch, and Peters drew a walk with the bases loaded, making it 6-4.
In three of the final four innings, pitcher Sam Duchemin (8-2) retired the Tuckers in order. Duchemin gave up three earned runs and one walk, striking out seven.
