Sports
NK Riptide Falls To Apponaug In Pawtucket
Apponaug's four-run third inning proves to be the deciding factor in the teams' second game of the 12 and under Summer Smash tournament.
PAWTUCKET -- The North Kingstown Riptide 12-years old and under girl’s softball team was bested by Apponaug, 6-1, Saturday afternoon in Pawtucket, in the latest round of the Summer Smash softball tournament.
Apponaug took advantage of North Kingstown’s mental lapses in the field and scored four runs in the top of the third inning to pull ahead. Keara Pedroso singled in two runs to begin the rally, but back-to-back errors in the infield for Riptide pushed across two more for Apponaug.
“You’ve always got to take advantage of the other team’s mistakes,” Apponaug manager Rick Hough said. “If we did it, they would have to take advantage of the mistakes. When they make an error we have to capitalize on it and work towards the next one.”
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There was no score heading into the third inning, and North Kingstown appeared to be keeping all Apponaug batters in check early on. Riptide starter Kiara Oliver struck out four in the first two innings and North Kingstown caught a baserunner stealing second, but the one difficult inning proved to be too much damage.
“It was a good game, we just had a few mental breakdowns,” Riptide manager George Oliver said. “A couple of bad throws, they didn’t make any mistakes and we did and that cost us the game. But they both played well. We expect to play them soon.”
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North Kingstown could only collect two base hits, however the team only struck out five times, hinting at plenty of aggressiveness at the plate.
“That’s what I like, the girls were willing to swing,” Oliver said. “They were hitting the ball every time. So we’ll get them. We were missing three of our top players and we hung in there so I was pretty happy. The girls did a great job.”
Hough praised his fielders for preventing potential base hits from sneaking by all afternoon.
“The fielders played great,” Hough said. “There was solid defense, we didn’t have any lapses at all. They hit and we made the plays. They’re a great team. I expected them to hit the ball and they did.”
Riptide scored its lone run in the bottom of the fourth when Oliver grounded out to second base to score Tara Chatowsky.
With the loss, North Kingstown drops to 1-1 in the tournamant. Apponaug improves to 2-0.
