KP’s Rico Near-Perfect as Warriors Down Stoughton High Softball

The beginning of King Philip softball's game against Monday looked eerily similar to their previous contest against Attleboro — a contest in which the KP bats could not get going while Warrior pitcher Meg Rico was cruising along via the strikeout.  

This afternoon, in a battle of the Hockomock Division leaders, Rico was sending Stoughton batters back to the dugout, with the first nine Black Knights going down by way of the strikeout with a total of 16 throughout the game.

Against Attleboro, the King Philip bats stayed silent until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Warriors sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring four runs to take the win.

On this warm, sunny afternoon in Plainville, KP was able to score runs in the first and third innings to hold an early 2-0 lead over Stoughton. They broke things wide open in the fifth, though, scoring six times on six hits and sending nine batters to the plate against Black Knight hurler Emily Cramer.

“We stayed in it for a while and came up with one hit, but you’re not going to hold them to one hit. Finally, by the fifth inning they got to her, Emily had kept them off balance, but didn’t have overpowering speed today,” Stoughton Coach Janet Sullivan said.

“They’re just that good from top to bottom, that’s why they’re the defending state champs.”

The Warriors closed out the scoring in the bottom of the sixth when Anna O’Neill sent home Tori Constantin with her second hit and third RBI.

With KP’s 10-0 win, Stoughton falls to 6-6 on the season.

For the second consecutive game, Rico allowed only one hit and, like the game before, it came in the fifth inning. After retiring 14 consecutive batters (10 on strikeouts), it was Rico’s pitching counterpart, Cramer, who broke up the no-hitter. Rico struck out 16, while walking three as the Warriors improved to 8-2 on the season.

“[Rico's] an excellent pitcher. She’s got speed, mixes her pitches and can hit her spots,” Sullivan said. “She’s by far the best pitcher that we’ve seen. She has more strength and power than anyone else, so it took us a full turn through the batting order to get use to her, but she’s just too good.”

As Sullivan praised the KP hurler, KP coach Jim Leonard was doing the same for Cramer, who held the Warrior bats in check through four innings.

“The girls had a tough time getting their timing worked out. Her pitch wasn’t a changeup and it wasn’t a fastball, but it sure did spin funny,” the KP skipper said. “We talked about making adjustments from at-bat to at-bat. We’re a good, disciplined hitting team, so it was only a matter of time — [the hits] came a little later than we’d have liked, but they eventually got it done.”

KP, which has outscored its last three opponents by a 23-0 margin since losing to Coyle Cassidy, will be on the road Wednesday afternoon when it travels to Oliver Ames, while Stoughton  will host Attleboro on the same day.

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JV Update (from Coach Dan Mark):

The JV softball team defeated Canton 15-2 on Friday. Kayla Motley led the offense with 4 hits, including a homerun. Val Sammarco also had 4 hits and 3 RBI's.

The JV softball team lost to King Philip 21-0 on Monday. Val Sammarco, Kayla Motley and Rachel Estremera had the hits. Gina McGaughey had a strong game defensively at shortstop.

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