Back to Back: Lady Cougars Snag Another Win Over Calhoun

When it comes to beating your rivals, twice is nice.

And two heads are better than one.

Led by Sam Finkel on the mound and Carly Thea at the plate, the Lady Cougars topped Calhoun yesterday 4-0, giving Kennedy a home-and-home sweep of their crosstown rivals.  Kennedy (5-1) won the day before, 6-5.

"It feels good," Kennedy coach Katie Speiss said of the sweep.  "We've had a very tiring week, but a very rewarding week; we're very excited to win again."

Wednesday's affair took extra innings to complete, but Finkel's pitching would make this a much faster contest.  After getting the win in relief the day before, Finkel pitched a complete game shutout to register another 'W'.  Finkel allowed three hits, walking one and striking out seven.  Calhoun never got a runner past second.

"Solid, dominating, and well done," Speiss said of Finkel's outing.

Kennedy plated a run in each of the first two innings.  Thea led off the game with a single, and would eventually come around to score on a passed ball.  Her second single drove home Calia Gabbi in the second.

After the shaky start, Lady Colts hurler Jessica Livingston settled down.  The junior was making her second start in as many days, giving up 10 hits while striking out six.  Livingston also had all three of Calhoun's hits on the afternoon.

"Her arm is strong," Calhoun coach Jason Boland said of Livingston.  "She's been doing a great job carrying us, and it's just frustrating to see the lack of support behind her."

Along with lack of run support, Boland was also referring to the Colts outfield play.  Several balls got by fielders, turning singles into, well, something more.

That was the case in the seventh.  With Kennedy nursing their 2-0 lead, Thea led off the frame with a solo HR that Calhoun fielders were unable to cut off.  The blast capped off a stellar day for the Cougar centerfielder (3 for 4, 2 RBIs).

"That was sort of inside, I had to pull it and just went with it - the bat did the rest," said Thea of her second homer in as many days.

"Carley is a solid player, mentally and physically, offensively and defensively," Speiss said.  "She's a hard worker, dedicated."

Catcher Steph Bauman (3 for 4) added an RBI triple later in the inning to cap off the day's scoring.

As for Calhoun (1-6), Boland didn't feel there was any hangover from the loss the day before, and chalks up the pair of defeats as a learning experience.

"I think all these errors and mistakes come from having such a young team," he said.  With that youth sometimes comes the inexperience; down the road I feel teams are going to have to watch out for us."

And how did Kennedy feel about back to back wins versus Calhoun? 

Thea summed it up best, "Always awesome to sweep the rivals."

Both teams are back in action today with the Cougars playing at Great Neck South at 4:30 p.m. and the Colts hosting Uniondale at 4:30 p.m. 

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