MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — The Manchester Essex softball team hosted unbeaten Georgetown on Tuesday afternoon for a marquee Cape Ann League matchup.
And while the Hornets certainly held their own — scoring more runs than any of Georgetown’s other first six opponents — they weren’t able to quite get over the hump to secure a victory.
Trailing by as many as four runs after four innings, the visiting Royals staged a late game rally to pull off an 8-5 victory and remain undefeated on the year.
“It was a really well played game,” said Manchester Essex head coach Frank Sarro, his team now 5-2. “Georgetown’s a very good team and we expected a really good game. We had the lead, so it’s a little disappointing to kind of give that up, but I thought the girls played hard against a really good team.”
It was a pitcher’s duel for much of the contest, with Manchester ace Anna Gardner setting the tone early and finishing with 12 Ks. Her biggest punch out would come in the first inning, as she reached a rare milestone by recording her 300th career strikeout.
Georgetown’s Maddie Grant, meanwhile, totaled 10 strikeouts in her outing, including some key Ks early on to get out of trouble with the bases loaded.
Manchester Essex would break the scoring drought in the third inning when Penelope Riggs launched a towering two-run homer, scoring Gardner to give her team a 2-0 lead.
The lead would grow in the fourth inning with Gardner helping herself out with a two-run double that scored Mia Mcleod and Katie Crompton. Kendall Franklin would follow with an RBI single to score Gardner and give the hosts a substantial 5-1 lead in the fourth inning.
But that advantage wouldn’t hold up.
Georgetown was not going to go down without a fight, as Gillien Figueroa delivered a base clearing double to bring home a trio of base runners and make it a 5-4 game just like that. One inning later, the Royals would keep their foot on the gas as Victoria Barbarick gave them their first lead (6-5) by driving in two more (Mia Girard and Meghan Maguire) on a hard hit double.
Grant would then add to the Georgetown lead with another two-run double that sent home both Vitoria and Ellie Barbarick.
After that, Grant and her Georgetown team would finish the job, closing out the game behind their ace pitcher.
Despite the loss Sarro was optimistic about his team moving forward.
“We’re looking ahead, we want to refocus here. We’re 5-2, we’re in good shape,” said Sarro.”Our two losses have come against really good teams with North Reading and Georgetown.
“From this point forward we just want to keep going, play hard, make the plays in the field, don’t give up anything (and) keep the energy on the bench,” he continued. “But I’m proud of the girls and the way we battled today.”
Cordelia Riggs added two hits for the Hornets while Mcleod laid down a perfectly placed bunt single. Defensively, Halle Bouchie played a terrific game at third base while Kaleyn Elario made a nice play in right field.
On the other side, Georgetown head coach Anne Grant talked about her team’s comeback resilience after failing behind by four runs.
“It was a great comeback win,” said Grant. “They pulled together as a team, we had a couple rocky innings and a lack of offense early on, but they rallied together and they were able to pull out a great win.”
Grant was happy with the girls mindset coming into the game and then facing the deficit that they did.
“I think it’s really important for these girls to see that they can come from a deficit and win,” Grant said. “They don’t have to always be in the lead, but they have to always hustle and they have to always have the same mindset, keep their focus, and support each other.
“I think the fact that they were loud on the bench, the fact that they were supporting each other definitely helped with that win,” she added.