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Kiraly blanks Southington
By brandon Judeh
NORTH JACKSON
During the top of the fifth inning, with the Jackson-Milton high softball team clinging to a two-run lead over Southington, Bluejays pitcher Paije Kiraly found herself in a bind.
There were runners on second and third with two outs when Bluejays coach Kelly Snowden made a trip to the mound.
Snowden reassured her pitcher and Kiraly responded by striking the batter out and carrying the Bluejays (14-1) to a 4-0 shutout win.
“I went out there to tell the girls that there was two outs and to get the out at first,” Snowden said. “And I told Paije that if she wanted to strike the hitter out that would be great.”
Kiraly pitched another masterpiece, tossing a complete-game shutout, striking out 11 batters and scattering seven hits.
Kiraly credited her performance to having two days rest, something that is crucial in the latter part of the season.
“I was rejuvenated, energized and ready to go,” Kiraly said. “I felt more comfortable once we scored, it allowed me to relax out on the mound.”
With the score deadlocked at zero in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Bluejays had runners on second and third with nobody out when Snowden decided to play small ball.
“When we scored our first run we did it by playing textbook softball,” Snowden said.
“We had a walk and a hit, then Maddy Tomaino bunted the run in,” Snowden said. “If you’re going to win close games you have to do the little things and we did.”
Two batters later, Katie Santor slammed a double in to right-center field to push the lead to 2-0.
The fifth inning started off with a bang when junior Zaina Shali slammed a home run over the right-field fence to give the Bluejays a three-run cushion.
“Before I batted, Coach told me that I owed her a hit, so I went up there and hit it and it went over the fence,” Shali said.
Later in the inning, Tomaino picked up her second RBI off of a single.
Southington (4-7) was never able to get its offense going, as Kiraly’s mix of pitches and superb control handcuffed the Lady Cats.
“We’re looking forward to the next two weeks and we are really gearing up for the end of conference play too,” Snowden said.
Jackson-Milton’s Caitlyn Carney reached base three times, Santor doubled twice and Kiraly tallied two hits.
For Southington, Chelsi Davis led the way with three singles and pitcher Lexi Pernice give up four runs on seven hits.