Lady Colts Bats Are Quiet in Loss to Hicksville

Calhoun softball pitcher Jessica Livingston and her Hicksville counterpart Kerri Hauff had batters dazed and confused yesterday afternoon, as they both threw splendid games. 

The two pitchers held the opposing team to one run apiece until the bottom of the sixth when freshmen Marisa Ciriello hit a two-out, two-run single to give Hicksville a 3-1 lead that they would not relinquish.

The visiting Lady Colts made it interesting in their final at-bat. After getting two runners on base, first baseman Danielle Losee stood at the plate with the two outs as the go-ahead run. Losee, however, grounded the ball back to Hauff to make the final out of the game.

Calhoun coach Jason Boland was proud of the way his team kept fighting at the end despite having just allowed Hicksville to take the lead.

"I think we did a great job hanging in there until the sixth inning when Hicksville got a clutch hit with two outs," Boland said. "But I'm really proud that my girls didn't give up. We had the tying runs on base with two outs, and gave ourselves a chance to take the lead in the seventh inning. "

Livingston, who threw a no-hitter on Saturday against West Hempstead, allowed three runs over six innings.

"I tried jamming them inside," Livingston said. "For a lot of them it worked, but not for all of them. [Hicksville catcher Kelly Moorehead] managed to hit a triple, and they started catching up to it. We did well defensively, but we just need to hit a little bit more."

The Lady Colts' batters could not figure out Hauff, who allowed just one run over seven innings while surrendering three hits and striking out four.

The Lady Colts scored first in the opening inning, when shortstop Ashley Lowerre hit a single to drive in Livingston to make it 1-0. The score stayed that way until the third inning, when Moorehead launched an RBI triple to deep center field to tie the game.

Then the pitchers took over, as neither team really threatened until the sixth inning, when Hicksville would get back-to-back base hits. After a stolen base, they had two runners in scoring position with two outs. That's when Ciriello stepped to the plate.

"I was aggressive," Ciriello said. "I was just trying to hit the ball and put a nice hard swing on it. It was a good timely at bat."

Ciriello dropped a single into shallow right field to score both runners and give her team a 3-1 lead.

Hicksville coach Rich Hinnerschietz was pleased with his team's performance on the day.

"We got some solid pitching today from Kerri Hauff," Hinnerschietz said. "She did a nice job staying in the strike zone and made them get hits to get on base. We played good defense behind her and did the things we had to do, and we got one big timely hit."

The Lady Colts, who dropped to 1-4 in league play, will look to rebound when they play at Bellmore JFK at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.