
Road victories over Nashua South and Concord last week enabled longtime coach Wayne MacDougall’s Londonderry High Lady Lancer softball team to drive its 2017 record up to an exceptional 8-0.
But a loss to Salem at the beginning of this week blemished their perfect record.
The South Lady Purple Panthers were absolutely no match for MacDougall’s mob in the Gate City on Wednesday, May 3, with Londonderry having every reason to be in a celebratory mood on the bus ride home following a 13-1 victory in which the 10-run rule was placed into effect after five innings.
The Lady Lancers scored twice in the first inning, some nine times in the third, and then twice more later in vanquishing their hosts soundly.
The locals bashed out a total of 15 hits, with Lauren Misiaszek stroking three of them and driving in two runs, and Cassidy Raza, Liz Niven, Katrina Rivard, Sarah Fawcett, and Gia Komst all connecting for two hits. Fawcett drove in three teammates and Niven, Komst, and Liz DeVoss each smacked in two.
The Lady Lancers’ success in the state capital against the host Concord
High Crimson Tide on Thursday the 4th was less decisive than had been the case the previous day, but a 3-1 win was more than enough to keep the locals’ 2017 record perfect.
The LHS contingent plated all of its runs in the top half of the fifth frame, with the Tide only being able to answer with a single tally in the latter half of the sixth.
The locals were held to a half-dozen hits this time around, but Misiaszek continued to swing a hot bat by bashing two safeties and driving in a run. Emily Nelson also collected a pair of hits for the victors.
Londonderry then began this new week with yet another road contest, with a Monday, May 8 trip to Salem to take on an 8-2 Lady Blue Devils’ bunch in what looked to be a serious challenge to its record’s perfection.
And the Lady Lancers did in fact have their record finally blemished in Salem that afternoon, dropping a 3-0 decision to the Lady Blue Devils.
The hosts scored once in the second inning and then twice more in the sixth in dealing Londonderry its first defeat of 2017.
The Lady Lancers’ lone hit on the day was delivered by hard-hitting stalwart Sarah Fawcett, while the victorious Salem side managed seven hits.