Messenio, Westwood Blank Medfield

EB Messenio led the Wolverines (4-3) to an 8-0 home victory against Medfield Monday afternoon, throwing six shutout innings and reaching base three times.

Messenio, a freshman, struck out seven Warriors and allowed just two hits before handing the ball to Liz Loftus for the seventh inning.

“She threw the ball really well today,” said Westwood head coach Jonas Sherr. “She’s so composed out there and she hit the corners, didn’t allow many free passes and the hits they got, they earned.”

Messenio mixed her pitches well and made use of her newly-developed changeup, something she feels is finally coming together.

“It’s something I’ve been practicing a lot and it finally paid off. I threw a lot of strikes with it today,” Messenio said.

Sherr also credited the defense, which didn’t commit a single error and looked sharp all afternoon, something Messenio also feels boosts her confidence on the mound.

“It was awesome, especially the outfield," Messenio said. "Sheila (O’Sullivan) had two amazing catches and it makes it a lot easier to pitch knowing any hits will be taken care by them."

Messenio’s day didn’t end on the mound, as she recorded two hits, scored twice, and reached on one of four Medfield errors on the afternoon behind starting pitcher Julia Biedrzychi.

The errors came back to hurt the Warriors in the fourth inning, as back to back hitters reached on errors which was followed by a Leigha Valentine three-run home run. 

“They have to go take ground balls and practice with intensity,” said Medfield head coach Sue Pratt. “We gave a lot of things away today.”

For Valentine, the homer was her third in two games and capped off a four RBI day that also included a triple.

“I just have to continue to keep my eye on the ball, concentrate and stay determined, and warming up before the game has really helped,” said Valentine of her recent success.

Sheila O’Sullivan drove in the first two runs for Westwood with a second-inning triple and finished the game with two hits and three RBI.

“We’re a tough lineup and there are a lot of kids who can hit the ball,” Sherr added. “They’re not going up there to hit triples and home runs, they’re going up there to hit line drives and they do a nice job of getting themselves into hitters counts and are doing a really good job hitting the ball right now.”

The only two Warrior hits recorded off Messenio were singles by Emily Kafka and Kara Pelosi. Medfield also scrapped together two hits in the seventh but failed to score.

“We just need to see the ball hit the bat,” said Pratt. “We finally started to hit in the last two innings but that’s just too late. We have to come out ready to hit.”