Greeley Softball Loses To Harrison On Road, In Close 3-2 Game

In what can easily be described as one of the best games of the season so far, the Harrison Huskies were able to withstand a late surge from Horace Greeley and talented pitcher freshman Jamie Weisser, to win Tuesday's game 3 - 2 at Harrison High School.

The win gives senior Harrison pitcher Ashley Marino yet another record at her school, as she has now accumulated 50 wins in her high school career, more then any other softball player to wear the maroon and white. She already holds the school record for strikeouts.

"She fought like a dog today," said Harrison Head Coach Dean Marino. "It was a cold day and everybody knows that it makes it a little harder for a pitcher. Normally she has seven pitches today we were living with two, but she battled through it."

The victory was hard-earned for Harrison, as the Quakers put up a strong performance. The Huskies needed to overcome a great pitching performance from Weisser to get the win.

In last Friday's matchup at home, Weisser battled the Husky batters in a loss but she collected 10 strikeouts in a complete game. Tuesday she proved her performance was no fluke. Weisser went for another six innings and only gave up three runs to the dangerous Husky lineup, she also struck out five batters including striking out the side in the sixth.

"Jamie did an amazing job for us today both offensively and defensively," said Horace Greeley Head Coach Gina Steany. "She showed up to play today and she's just a strong kid."

As impressive as Weisser was, she again turned out to be inferior to Harrison's Ashley Marino. Marino continues to beat up on the opposition and she got off to a great start against Horace Greeley. In the first few innings Greeley was unable to establish any type of significant rally.

Harrison was the first team on the board as leadoff hitter Allyson Brabant hit a deep drive to left field and the outfielder misplayed it, landing Brabant safely at second. After Johanna Valentzas popped out to left field, Sam Lagana came up and bunted for a single advancing Brabant to third base. Greeley's catcher, Hannah Marks, attempted a  pick off play at third base but the third baseman could not handle the throw and not only did Brabant score but Lagana advanced to third.

After Marks' errant throw, Harrison's first baseman, Alijah Webb, hit a hard single to the shortstop that scored Lagana to give Harrison an early 2-0 lead.

In the second inning Harrison would advance their lead as Jenna Webb led off the inning with a double into the right-center field gap. After several other batters came to the plate unable to solve the mystery that was Jamie Weisser, Allyson Brabant again came up and got the job done for Harrison nailing an RBI single. The Brabant RBI gave Harrison a 3-0 advantage.

The Horace Greeley offense came out with a different strategy this game against Marino and the Huskies. It was clear that the Horace Greeley team wanted to step to the plate to see several pitches and work deep into the count before picking their pitch to drive. The strategy forced Marino to throw more pitches in the cold weather, which wore her down in the later innings.

"The girls were a lot more focused today," said Steany. "Harrison is a great team and they have great pitching, our goal was to just make them work and not give them anything easy."

"Late in last game they were catching up to a lot of my pitches, so I knew this game would be a little tougher," said Harrison pitcher Ashley Marino. "I had to rely heavily on all my pitches and I really tried to switch it up."

Greeley also was a much more aggressive team on the base paths, and that may have cost them early on. In the third inning the Quakers had runners on first and second when a wild pitch allowed both base runners to advance. With Emily Taylor on third, the Quakers attempted to create a run. Meredith Biski popped up in foul territory to the first basemen Alijah Webb and Taylor tried to tag and make it home before Webb's throw. The toss from the first baseman came in with plenty of time and catcher Gigi LoDolce blocked the plate and got Biski out without a problem.

In the fifth inning the Quakers would once again try to manufacture a run. With runners on second and third Ashley Marino struck out the batter, Emily Taylor, but catcher Gigi LoDolce was unable to hold onto the pitch. Taylor ran to first and the runner from third, Danielle Walkerwicz, tried to get to home plate while LoDolce threw the ball to get the easy out at first. But rather than throwing the ball LoDolce brilliantly faked out Walkerwicz and caught off the bag for an out.

"We wanted to play aggressively today," said Steany. "We knew we would have to try and create a run or two on the base paths against Harrison."

Going into the top of the sixth inning Harrison had still not given up a run and Ashley Marino seemed poised to add yet another shutout to her career totals. However, the Quakers sent the middle of their lineup to the plate to try and make something happen. Hannah Marks and Jamie Weisser would hit back to back doubles that scored the first run against the Huskies all year.

The Quakers would add another run in the seventh inning, but Marino and the Huskies stayed calm and showed off their "mental toughness" in order to come together to get the final out of the game.

Harrison will look to continue their undefeated season at Somers on Wednesday at 4:30 and Horace Greeley will be looking to put an end to a losing streak on Wednesday at home against Byram Hills.