The Londonderry High School Softball squad added two more wins last week to put their season record at 13-2 heading into the final week of the regular season.
The Lady Lancers were able to get their eighth shutout of the season with a 3-0 blanking of the Portsmouth Clippers, then won 8-2 in an out-of-conference game against Wachusett Regional High School.
On Monday night, May 1, at home, the team had a two-run first inning and held on with strong pitching for a three-run shutout over the Lady Clippers.
The game also served as the team’s Senior Night, where the squad honored Olivia Cutuli and Zoey Nelson, who will be lost to graduation at the end of the season. Cutuli will be headed to UMass Amherst next year and Nelson is going to St. Peter’s University. They will both be playing Division 1 Softball and the ladies have been paired up as pitcher and catcher since the age of nine.
The game was a real pitchers duel, with hits being at a premium. The Londonderry bats where able to blast three doubles and a home run, while Cutuli held PHS to just two hits for the win.
Cutuli began the scoring by getting on, leading off in the first, with a double, followed by a hard shot by Elisabeth Kearney that forced an error to drive in Cutuli. Run number two was driven in by Ginny Flaherty on a ground out.
The only other run in the game was homerun shot to centerfield by Flaherty in the sixth inning.
Cutuli pitched the entire game, striking out an outstanding 16-batters, allowing two hits, and walking just one.
The team’s only other game last week came the following day, at home, against the Mountaineer’s from Holden Mass., where it took some late-in-game heroics to come away with the team fourth straight win.
Londonderry was behind by one in the first after a passed ball allowed a run to start the game.
The Lancers fell behind 2-0 in the top of the sixth after a double and a single produced WRHS’s only other run.
In the bottom of that inning, homeruns by Flaherty, Shannon Crowley, and Kearney helped boost LHS’s offense for the 8-2 win.
Kearney was the winning pitcher, allowing five hits while striking out 17 batters.
The LHS offense had eight hits in the eight run game.
The Lancers head into the final week of the regular season this week with four games.
On Monday, May 20, they hosted the Windham Jaguars (9-6). On Tuesday they traveled to Merrimack High School (9-5).
On Wednesday, May 22, they play in Hudson against the Alvirne Broncos (5-10) and on Friday, May 24 the team will host Dover (5-11) for their final game before the State Championships. The game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.