Lynnfield 14Bs Top Lexington in MiddleEssex Action

The Lynnfield Blue 14B squad defeated Concord-Carlisle 10-6 in MiddleEssex Softball league action at Emerson Playground on Monday night.

Visiting Lynnfield picked up the victory thanks to a stellar pitching performance from starter Annika Han and a six-run fourth inning. Lynnfield’s big inning erased a one-run deficit and gave it the lead for good.

The home team sent four pitchers to plate, giving each girl one or two innings to get some work done.

“It was a very good game,” Concord-Carlisle coach P.J. Jewell said after the game. “(Han) was a very good pitcher that they faced all night. We pitched four girls and approached it differently.”

The 14B level of the MiddleEssex League is reserved mostly for instruction. Many of the girls are learning the sport and much of the coaching is centered on fundamentals. Both Jewell and Lynnfield coach Andrew Maylor moved girls around throughout the contest so they could play various positions in the field.

“We have a veteran batter (Han and catcher Mackenzie Comeau) and they’ve done well,” Maylor said, “but there’s a lot of learning at this stage, a lot of coaching.”

Jewell said victories aren’t at the top of his gameplan most nights.

“I’m not into necessarily just trying to win the game at all costs,” Jewell said. “I want all the kids to play, get their at-bats and get their pitching in.”

Concord-Carlisle scored the games first run in the opening frame when Lauren Harrington plated Casey Attonito, who had reached on a triple, with a basehit.

But Lynnfield came back in a big way in the fourth inning. Five batters went to the plate and four scored before an out was recorded. The visitors put up six runs in all during the inning, the maximum allowed by the league.

Lynnfield’s Sadie Oliver, Vanessa Maylor, Kelly Look and Comeau all had singles in the big inning.

Concord-Carlisle kept up the pace in the bottom of the fourth, when Rosie Charnley was hit by a pitch, stole second and third and came home when the throw to third sailed into left field. It was a close play at the plate, but Charnley slid in with her team’s second run.

The teams then traded three runs apiece during the next two innings.

In the fifth, C-C manufactured a trio of runs with the help of a single hit. Vanessa Ryan reached on an error and later scored on a wild pitch, Katie Lotane walked and eventually scored on Attonito’s double. Attonito came home on Emma Della Volpe’s groundout.

A pair of C-C errors led to two of Lynnfield’s three runs in the sixth inning. Annika Han also helped her own cause with an RBI single to plate Abbie Weaver.

Each team scored one more time: C-C on Ryan’s single to plate Carly Chelton, who reached on a double, in the bottom of the sixth, and Lynnfield on a passed ball in the top of the seventh.

Concord-Carlisle has two more games to play this summer, beginning tonight against Waltham back at home. Lynnfield has one more to go, closing out its MiddleEssex season at home against Charlestown on Tuesday night.