Bellringers Rout SMSA

It would take a lot more than a combination of an overcast sky, chilly temperature and Sport and Medical Sciences Academy to cool off East Hampton on Saturday.

A lot more.

The Bellringers stayed hot and improved to 9-3 with a lopsided 17-2 victory over SMSA (3-7).

Using a mix of hits, walks and aggressive base running, East Hampton scored a run in the first, four more in the second, then batted around in the third to score eight runs for a 13-1 lead.

That was  plenty for Brittany Fiederlein, who started and picked up the win, allowing both runs. Madison Reinhard finished up.

For East Hampton, the game amounted to the perfect tune-up for Wednesday’s game at Shoreline Conference rival Hale-Ray, and a bit of a respite following three consecutive one-run victories.

“We go into every single game, it doesn’t matter who it is, not expecting a thing other than to play softball,” said coach Matt Warner, noting the strength of the conference. “Hale-Ray on Wednesday is going to be tough. They’re a solid team. We’re going to go into that game with that mind-set, that we’re going to play the hardest seven innings we can and hopefully we come out on top.”

For the Bellringers, it was their seventh win in a row following a sluggish start and comes on the heels of a 1-0 victory over Haddam-Killingworth on Friday, thanks to a two-hitter by Emily Clausi.

“I think all-around, the team is doing very well,” Warner said. “Lately, we’ve had a too few many errors in the games. However, we’ve done a very good job recovering from them. Especially mentally with those players themselves, not getting down on themselves, everyone staying in that team mind-set.

“Emily has been pitching really solid, Brittany when she comes in, she’s been solid.”

The Bellringers had four errors on Friday and it didn’t cost them. On Saturday, they were error free.

“Everyone is constantly working to improve themselves,” Warner said. “Defensively, we’re getting better every single game. We’re learning from our mistakes, we’re seeing what we can do to improve and offensively we’re finding those breaks. We’re finding those opportunities to get those few runs in because we know if we can get those and get ahead, our chances are going to increase.”

East Hampton plays at Hale-Ray at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and hosts Morgan on Friday at 3:45 p.m.