Lady Colts Softball Starts Off Season Strong

Non-league contests at the beginning of the season are supposed to be a good way for a high school softball squad to find out what they’ve got, and where they’ve got to go, before the regular season starts.

For the Calhoun girls softball team, Friday’s blowout 14-0 win at Freeport was only partially useful in doing that because it was fueled by pitching woes for the host team.

How woelike? Try 20 walks, three batters hit by a pitch, and three pitching changes in five innings.

But for a good coach, there are lessons to be found in everything. Eighth-grader Lauren Trimarco, in her first varsity start, pitched five innings of a shut-out. There was one hit ball, she struck out four, walked four and allowed only two balls to be hit out of the infield.

“It felt good,“ said Trimarco. “It helps to know I had the team behind me – there was no stress at all, I knew they could get it done.“

Fellow eighth-grader Allison Abbene, starting at second base, was solid in the field, and went 2 for 4 with two RBIs in the lead-off slot. And team wide, there were opportunities to examine things they did in the field and at the plate.

“Just because they’re throwing it out of the strike zone doesn’t mean that your players aren’t swinging,” said Jason Boland, coach,  as his victorious Lady Colts (2-1) hightailed it off the chilly playing field and onto the bus. “We were patient at the plate today. And on defense, we played well – we made the plays out in the field, there were no errors.”

Truth be told, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for the lineup to work on its batting. After an uneventful first inning, the Lady Colts batted around, beginning with shortstop Ashley Lowerre who was hit by a pitch, then five walks in a row and another hit by pitch to cap a three-run inning that could have been even more productive if it hadn’t been for an out made in the base paths.

Inning three was more of the same – five runs on two hits and five walks – and in fact, Calhoun was able to bat around in that inning as well as innings four and five, before the game was called.

Showing solid performance at the plate were Suss (one hit, four RBIs), Lowerre (one hit, three RBIs) and Gianna Saladino (one hit, two RBIs). Also pushing runs across the plate through walks were Danielle Losee and Erica McLeod – who also showed considerable pluck in the field in a collision with the Freeport catcher trying to score from third.

On defense, a solid performance was turned in by catcher Nicole Simmons, giving Trimarco – aka L.T. – a chance to show what she’s got to bring to the table for Calhoun.

By the looks of Friday’s game, the eighth-grader’s got game.

“I couldn’t ask for more,” Boland said. “Especially in this weather. She was popping the catcher’s mitt late into the game. L.T. showed maturity out there.”

Next up for the Lady Colts is a visit from Plainview JFK on March 29 at 4:15 p.m.