WEEDSPORT - Meghan Short packed quite a punch on Monday.
Tully's Maggie Riccardi is out coming home by Weedsport catcher Ashley Flint Monday in Weedsport. Weedsport went on to win the game 14-8. Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Or, a pitch.
The sophomore from Weedsport had a perfect game going through four innings and kept Tully off balance long enough for the Warriors to build a 5-0 lead en route to a 14-8 win.
"We just couldn't touch it," said Black Knight coach Denise Abbott. "After that, it was trying to catch up."
"She did excellent," said catcher Ashley Flint. "Meghan came in and pitched really hard. She struggled a little bit at the end of the game but she came right back."
Short ended up pitching a seven-hitter, but gave up all of her hits in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
"I struggle a lot because I get frustrated when I get a lot of balls called," Short said.
Short had eight strikeouts.
"Meghan has been, all season, our ace in the hole," said Warrior coach Sandy Donahue. "We live and die by her arm. I think she started to struggle a little bit but I don't think she was getting strikes called either. He definitely wasn't a low-ball ump, and Meghan has a some really good low-balls that she pitches a lot.
"She wasn't getting that so she was kind of frustrated, I could tell on her face. So she started putting the ball up top and I kept telling her to keep working it low because Tully is a great high-ball hitting team. When the ball is up there, they're making contact."
Short didn't allow a baserunner until the top of the fifth inning, when Tully's Katie Bollinger (two hits, triple) looped a single over second baseman Sherry Seamans' out-stretched glove.
The Black Knights (3-7 league, 3-9 overall) scored a pair of runs in the fifth, but the Warriors (4-3, 5-5) responded with four more in the bottom half.
Weedsport got a scare in the top of the sixth, when Tully cut the lead to 9-6 on a Bollinger bases-clearing triple.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Hartnett hit a hard grounder to third. Ali Saladin fielded the ball, and then flipped it to shortstop Megan Henderson.
Baserunner Amanda Kenyon was originally ruled safe, but according to Donahue, the umpire changed the call after realizing it was a force out. The call put an end to the Black Knights' rally.
"You can get angry at all those little plays, but in the end it was the first five innings," Abbott said.
Short credited the defense.
"I think defense-wise we're really good; really solid," Short said. "We have a really good infield."
Weedsport scored five more in the in the sixth and Tully was only able to cross the plate twice in the seventh.
"Anytime that we chiseled ahead to try to catch them, they came back in the bottom of the inning," Abbott said.
Henderson (three runs) and Keriann Earl paced the Warriors with three hits and three RBIs. Flint added two hits, two runs and two RBIs. Jessica Hoffman also had two hits (RBI, two runs).
Seamans (run), Jenny Montross (run), Murphy Enos (RBI, run), and Short (two RBI, run) each had one hit. Stacie Treat scored twice and Saladin scored once.
The sophomore from Weedsport had a perfect game going through four innings and kept Tully off balance long enough for the Warriors to build a 5-0 lead en route to a 14-8 win.
"We just couldn't touch it," said Black Knight coach Denise Abbott. "After that, it was trying to catch up."
"She did excellent," said catcher Ashley Flint. "Meghan came in and pitched really hard. She struggled a little bit at the end of the game but she came right back."
Short ended up pitching a seven-hitter, but gave up all of her hits in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
"I struggle a lot because I get frustrated when I get a lot of balls called," Short said.
Short had eight strikeouts.
"Meghan has been, all season, our ace in the hole," said Warrior coach Sandy Donahue. "We live and die by her arm. I think she started to struggle a little bit but I don't think she was getting strikes called either. He definitely wasn't a low-ball ump, and Meghan has a some really good low-balls that she pitches a lot.
"She wasn't getting that so she was kind of frustrated, I could tell on her face. So she started putting the ball up top and I kept telling her to keep working it low because Tully is a great high-ball hitting team. When the ball is up there, they're making contact."
Short didn't allow a baserunner until the top of the fifth inning, when Tully's Katie Bollinger (two hits, triple) looped a single over second baseman Sherry Seamans' out-stretched glove.
The Black Knights (3-7 league, 3-9 overall) scored a pair of runs in the fifth, but the Warriors (4-3, 5-5) responded with four more in the bottom half.
Weedsport got a scare in the top of the sixth, when Tully cut the lead to 9-6 on a Bollinger bases-clearing triple.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Hartnett hit a hard grounder to third. Ali Saladin fielded the ball, and then flipped it to shortstop Megan Henderson.
Baserunner Amanda Kenyon was originally ruled safe, but according to Donahue, the umpire changed the call after realizing it was a force out. The call put an end to the Black Knights' rally.
"You can get angry at all those little plays, but in the end it was the first five innings," Abbott said.
Short credited the defense.
"I think defense-wise we're really good; really solid," Short said. "We have a really good infield."
Weedsport scored five more in the in the sixth and Tully was only able to cross the plate twice in the seventh.
"Anytime that we chiseled ahead to try to catch them, they came back in the bottom of the inning," Abbott said.
Henderson (three runs) and Keriann Earl paced the Warriors with three hits and three RBIs. Flint added two hits, two runs and two RBIs. Jessica Hoffman also had two hits (RBI, two runs).
Seamans (run), Jenny Montross (run), Murphy Enos (RBI, run), and Short (two RBI, run) each had one hit. Stacie Treat scored twice and Saladin scored once.
