The Londonderry High softball squad book-ended blowout wins over Bedford and Nashua South around a tough, slim loss to the Timberlane Lady Owls last week to roll toward the Division I tournament with a solid, 8-7 record.
The Lady Lancers had no trouble with the Bedford High Lady Bulldogs on that opponent’s home diamond on Tuesday, May 20, in a 12-1 thumping of that host that featured grand-slam home runs off of the bats of both Sam Harris and Julie Hamilton.
Veteran coach Wayne MacDougall’s crew scored four times in the top of the first inning, single runs in the second and third, five times in the fifth, and once more in the seventh.
All in all, the Lady Lancers – who moved to 7-6 with the pleasing victory – smacked out 16 hits with Hamilton and Summer Vose each collecting three hits, and Cassidy Litch, Brooke Tulley and Melissa Sprague each driving two. Leah Hunt snagged the pitching victory.
The next day back at home at LHS, the Lady Lancers wound up dropping a 5-4 loss to Timberlane in a contest which took nine innings to decide.
Both teams scored single runs in the first inning, and both sides plated two runs in the third frame to end up tied at 3-3 after three full frames.
The Lancers snagged a single run in the bottom of the fourth to collect a 4-3 lead, but the Lady Owls tied things back up in the top of the sixth and won the game with a single marker in the top of the ninth.
Londonderry smacked out eight hits to Timberlane’s 14, with Litch, Vose, and Harris each whacking two.
But MacDougall’s mob headed back out onto the road and snared another lopsided victory of 9-0 at Nashua South last Friday, May 23.
The Lady Lancers scored single runs in the first and second frames, two more in the fourth, four more in the sixth, and a final marker in the seventh in leaving South little hope of any sort of comeback in this contest.
Hunt hammered three hits and drove in three runs, and Vose, Sprague, and Bethany Griffin each rapped two hits in the winning LHS effort.