When Olivia McDonald has possession for the Newburyport girls lacrosse team, good things usually happen.
Such was the case on Thursday, when the junior had a career game for her Clippers team still ranked No. 1 overall in Division 3. McDonald poured in an impressive eight goals and assisted on another, leading undefeated Newburyport (13-0) to a comfortable 20-5 win over Pentucket.
Senior tri-captain Izzy Rosa continued her climb up the Newburyport all-time scoring ranks with three goals and seven assists, and both Anna Affolter and Avery Tahnk had three goals as well. With the win, the Clippers also claimed at least a share of their sixth straight CAL Kinney title, with just one more victory giving them the outright crown.
Pentucket (7-5) was led by two goals from Sydney Trout, a goal and an assist from Kate Conover and two assists from Audrey Conover.
Barbarick blasts two more HRs
It’s not too often you can spot a team 11 runs in the first inning and still win.
The Georgetown softball team — albeit unwillingly — found itself in that exact hole after Ipswich exploded for 11 runs in the bottom of the first inning of Friday’s game, but didn’t quit. Starter Maddie Grant settled down in the circle and pitched a solid game the rest of the way with 11 strikeouts, and the Royals kept chipping away to eventually come out with a 15-13 win.
Eighth-grader Elizabeth Barbarick continued to show that she may already be the best hitter in the entire league, going 4-for-5 with six RBI while blasting her area-leading 6th and 7th home runs of the year. Gillien Figueroa also hit a homer while going 2-for-5, and Zoey Halmen went 4-for-5 with a pair of RBI.
The Royals (7-6) next play Monday at Lynnfield.
Penniman, Vikings shut down North Reading
There’s a new leader in the CAL Kinney softball race.
Triton’s one and only loss this season was to North Reading in late April, but on Friday the Vikings avenged that defeat by blanking the Hornets, 3-0. With the victory, the Vikings (13-1) moved into first place all alone atop the Kinney standings.
Emma Penniman tossed another gem in the circle, shutting out the Hornets while allowing just two hits with six strikeouts. Triton scored all of its runs in the second inning, with Grace Romine and Ava Johnson each having RBI-hits. Johnson went 2-for-3 on the day, and Izzy Oldoni and Mallory Johnson also had hits.
Lee leads Georgtown over Ipswich
Ethan Lee tossed six solid innings allowing just one run with four strikeouts, and also went 1-for-3 at the plate to lead the Georgetown baseball team to a 2-1 win over Ipswich on Saturday.
It was a 1-1 game in the bottom of the sixth inning before the Royals (11-3) took the lead, and Jake Thompson pitched a clean seventh with a strikeout to pick up his second save of the season. Jake Gilbo, Jason Gioia and Zach Gilmore had the other hits for the Royals.