MONMOUTH — It’s not the team senior Emily Chasse or her coaches envisioned, but it appears the Monmouth softball will be just fine this season in its current configuration.
Tuesday, Chasse and the Mustangs downed Hall-Dale 10-3 behind a 12-hit attack and some strong plays in the field.
Monmouth is 2-1 in Mountain Valley Conference play, while Hall-Dale falls to 2-2.
Several players decided not to return from last year’s team, including three starters. That left Chasse as the team’s lone senior.
“It’s really weird because I grew up playing with them and now I’m not,” Chasse said of the loss of her former teammates.
Chasse pitched well, giving up a first-inning run before settling in and holding the Bulldogs to a single hit over the next three innings. Meanwhile, her teammates scored a pair of runs in each of the first three frames and broke the game open with four runs in the fourth.
Chasse singled three times during that span, while teammate Haylee Laglois doubled twice.
The Bulldogs were aggressive at the plate but kicked the ball around in the field. In addition to making three errors, they also let a pop fly drop into shallow right and botched a rundown.
“We’re a better team than what we showed today,” Hall-Dale coach Steve Acedo said. “If we play defense like we can, that score would have been a lot closer.”
Both teams are young and start a couple of freshmen, but Monmouth has a veteran battery in Chasse and junior catcher Abby Ferland, and that made a difference. After Hall-Dale’s Bella Marino led the game off with a double to the fence in left and scored on Jill Whynot’s single, Chasse settled into a groove.
“We’ve been throwing less straight fastballs and throwing off guard with more pitches,” she said. “Being the only senior I have to be there for the team and I have to be there all together.”
Chasse’s day was cut short when she fouled a ball off her ankle — she hit the same ankle during batting practice — and had to leave after the fourth inning. Mariah Herr took over on the mound and allowed six hits and two runs over the final three innings.
The Mustangs got to starter Kailey Roberts in the first inning. When Emily Kaplan’s soft fly fell for a hit, she stole second and scored Chasse’s base hit. An error accounted for Monmouth’s second run. The Bulldogs’ defense stumbled in the second, as they missed a sure out in a rundown between third and home.
“It’s still a young group,” Acedo said. “I think it’s there, they’ve just got to find it in themselves to keep it going.”
Langlois doubled to lead off the third, and a walk to Ferland and base hit by Chasse loaded the basses for sophomore McKenzie Boucher, who delivered a two-run single to right field.
“We’re starting to hit,” Monmouth coach Dave Kaplan said. “We’ve got three or four freshmen in the lineup so it’s going to take a little (while).”
The Mustangs collected four runs on five hits in the bottom of the fourth. Langlois doubled for a second time, while Ferland and Chasse had RBI singles. An error and a walked helped keep the inning alive as did Kaplan’s bunt single.
Kaplan finished and Deanna Bauer each had a pair of hits for Monmouth, while Grace Begin had three for Hall-Dale and Sierra Godbout and Emily Allen each drove in runs.
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