AUBURN — A comfortable lead was suddenly not feeling so comfortable.
After a couple of hit batters and a walk, Monmouth’s Paxton Lessard faced a St. Dom’s team that was cutting into the Mustangs lead. The Saints had two runners in scoring position and were just one hit away from tying the game.
“It’s a really stressful job to be a pitcher,” said Lessard. “You have to stay focused and think that it’s just me and the catcher. You just have to throw strikes.”
Lessard got out of the inning. Monmouth added another run and held off the St. Dom’s rally for a 7-4 win.
“Paxton did a good job bearing down when she had to at times,” said Monmouth coach Rachel Bernier, whose defense also played errorless ball. “The defense made some good plays. Shannon (Buzzell) did a real nice job at third.”
The Saints were down by as many as five early in the game, but scored twice in the fifth to get within reach. St. Dom’s could have had another run on a flyout, but hesitant baserunning nixed that opportunity.
“We’re playing most of the teams just like this,” St. Dom’s coach Mike Murphy said. “We’re a couple of hits away from winning the game. We just have to find that hit at the right time to make the difference.”
The Mustangs (3-4) scored three runs in each of the first two innings to build the early lead. In the first, a Bri Hicks grounder scored Kylie Kemp. A Makayla Cameron fielders’ choice plated another, and Daisi Poole followed with an RBI double.
“You’ve got to play the small ball when you’re not hitting the ball,” said Bernier, whose team stole four bases in the first two innings. “You have to do something to use your speed. You use what the defense gives you. Hopefully, you can capitalize.”
St. Dom’s (1-7) got one back on a McKenna Lachapelle RBI single in the bottom of the inning, but the Mustangs added three more in the second. Kemp singled in a run. Sabrina Beck’s fielders’ choice made it 5-1, and Kemp caught the Saints unaware and stole home for a 6-1 lead.
“They play really good small ball and they’re really good running the bases,” said Murphy. “We just have to pay attention to every single runner.”
St. Dom’s began to chip away and got a Bethany Fox RBI double in the third. Then Lessard got into trouble in the fifth. She hit two batters and walked one. One run came in when Kelly Pomerleau was hit by a pitch. Sarah Trott later came in on a wild pitch to make it 6-4. The Saints still had runners at second and third with no outs.
“I just had to really focus on the glove,” Lessard said. “Sometimes my eyes dart around. So I needed to focus on the glove and make sure I threw strikes.”
Lessard induced a flyout to center on which the Saints failed to tag up. She then struck out a batter and got a liner to Caroline Bonenfant at short to end the inning.
“We talk about having someone on, and how you prepare yourself” Bernier said. “Good pitchers are able to calm down and throw the next pitch a strike. She’s still young. She doesn’t have a lot of pitching time, but she’s been working hard. As long as she continues to listen and understand that you have to move the ball around, she’ll do fine. You have to keep it off speed and move it around.”
Monmouth added another run in the sixth when Hicks scored on an error on a Becki Bryant bunt.
After the threat in the fifth, Lessard recorded nine straight outs to finish.
kmills@sunjournal.com
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