Enfield Prevails In Pitchers' Duel

A touch of illness did not seem to affect Dallas Fonck at all Tuesday.

The Enfield High School softball pitcher twirled a four-hitter and struck 12, leading the Raiders to a 4-2 win at crosstown rival Fermi.

Fonck outdueled Fermi's Liz Rogers, who struck out nine but was victimized by shoddy Falcon defense in the final inning.

"Dallas was not feeling well at all, and I was skeptical," Enfield head coach Albina Belisle said. "She was a little dehydrated, but she came through in the end, stayed strong and did very well."

Enfield scored the game's first run in the opening inning, on a run-scoring single by Katie Levasseur that plated Michelle Mullen. The Raiders added another tally in the third when Levasseur scored on a single by Nicole Olschafskie.

Meanwhile, Fonck was dominating Fermi batters, striking out six of the first seven hitters before Sara Moynihan beat out an infield single in the third. A walk and a hit batter enabled Fermi to load the bases that inning, but Fonck struck out Melissa Urbon to end the threat.

The Falcons finally broke through with a two-out rally in the fifth. Katie Saltzgiver singled, stole second and third, and eventually scored on an infield error. Emily Quail then came home with the tying run on a wild pitch.

Enfield took advantage of defensive mistakes by the Falcons in the seventh inning, pushing across the go-ahead runs. Mullen led off with a single and took second on an overthrow from the outfield. After an out, Levasseur reached on an infield error, with Mullen taking third. Fonck laid down a bunt single to load the bases, and Mullen scored on another infield error off a grounder by Olschafskie. Levasseur scored on a bases-loaded walk to Kaitlyn Jameson. After a strikeout, Nicole Meunier looked to add more runs to Enfield's total, but Fermi's Ashley Reid ran down a long drive in left-center field to end the inning.

Fonck struck out the first two Falcon batters in the seventh, then Reid reached on a bunt single. Urbon drilled a hard smash to left field, but Jameson made a nice catch to secure the victory for the Raiders.

Meunier, Mullen and Levasseur each recorded two hits for Enfield.

"Enfield played tremendously and brought maximum effort," Fermi coach Sean Sweeney said. "We have to bring our A-effort every time."

Enfield (3-4) travels to Ellington Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. Fermi (1-5) visits Rocky Hill Thursday at 3:45 p.m.