Mansfield Holds Off Stoughton High Softball

After scoring six runs in the first two innings of their game at last Friday, the Stoughton High softball team had the offense going early again Tuesday afternoon at Mansfield, taking a 5-0 lead by the third inning.

But Mansfield responded with seven unanswered runs to take the lead, and Stoughton’s comeback attempt came up short, with the Black Knights falling 7-6 on the road. The team falls to 2-4 on the season.

Stoughton scored first in the game, when Jess Olans hit a double with the bases loaded to bring in three runners in the first inning. The Black Knights followed it up with two more runs in the third when Megan Flaherty hit a single after Jordan Angelos hit a triple.

Mansfield was not out of it yet, however, as they fired back in the bottom of the third inning with Tricia Hansen’s double bringing in a run. Her double was promptly followed by Kelly English’s double to bring in two more putting the Hornets on the board, now trailing 5-3.

The Hornets were just now starting to get their groove, keeping the Black Knights at bay on defense while gaining momentum at the plate. In the bottom of the fifth they tied it up with an RBI from Jessica Cooney. Then two consecutive triples from English and Jamie Mall gave Mansfield the lead, 7-5.

But Stoughton wasn’t finished. Meghan Flaherty popped one up to far left field, easily making it home for an inside the park home run. Nicole Beauregard and Megan Guerard each followed up with a single, but the last batter grounded out, with Mansfield holding on for the 7-6 win.

Defensively, Stoughton made some great plays. The infield worked like clockwork to keep Mansfield in the hole during the first few innings. Jess Freitas made two difficult catches on two line drives to second base, which could have easily flown over her head to make base hits. Beauregard made a great catch in the outfield as well.

“It was a good game today, we had two good teams,” Stoughton coach Janet Sullivan said. “We got some good hits, we got some timely hits. We were hitting right from the beginning, that was probably one of our best [offense showings] of the year.”

Stoughton travels to Norton on Thursday. First pitch is at noon.