Sports
Fontbonne Academy's Bats Come Alive in Rout of Cathedral
The Ducks dominate Cathedral's pitching to the tune of 20 runs on 27 hits in their victory yesterday in Boston
Fontbonne Academy showed off its team depth in a 20-5 win over Cathedral yesterday at Robert Lewis Jr. Field.
The starters took care of business with a six-run second inning, as the Ducks collected eight hits in the frame, highlighted by a mammoth 2-run homer to left field by Nicole Derba. They also took advantage of some sloppy fielding by Cathedral.
Coach Kathy Berardi decided to give her backup players some game experience, and they produced just like the starting lineup, with a big eight-run top of the sixth.
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"They don't really get a chance to play," Berardi said of her backups. "It was nice to see them hit. There were a couple of base running errors, but they are young and they don't get a chance to do that."
The Ducks second team batted around in the top of the sixth, collecting nine hits, with two-RBI base hits by Edie Richardson and Bridget Plouffe.
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Plouffe also held the Cathedral lineup in check with a 10-strikeout performance in seven innings of work. Plouffe, a member of the JV team at the beginning of the season, was impressive for most of the afternoon but faced some adversity in the fourth, when she walked the bases loaded and gave up three-run triple to Daniela Perez.
"It was tough because there was no pitching rubber (on the mound)," said Plouffe. "When I get nervous I just pretend like I'm throwing to my pitching coach."
Plouffe settled down after that rough patch to strike out six Cathedral hitters over the last three innings.
"I was considering taking her out if she was going to keep walking people," said the coach. "But she hung tight. She's getting better every single game and she's pitched some good games for us."
At 9-5 overall and 8-2 in the league, the Ducks should find themselves in the playoffs, and will be getting healthy at the right time. Starting shortstop Taylor Shepherd will be returning in a week after injuring her finger. The Ducks proved they have depth outside of their starting core if they run into trouble down the stretch, but Shepherd should be a welcome site on the diamond.
