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Poland softball rebounds with rout in World Series
By charles grove
Big bats and strong pitching led Poland’s junior league softball team to a 10-0 win over Asia-Pacific in their World Series matchup.
Poland clinched the No. 1 seed in its pool and now moves on to knockout competition with eight teams remaining.
Things appeared to be anything but a blowout early on as neither team scored until the bottom of the third when Lauren Sienkiewicz singled home Brooke Bobbey. Ally Nittoli singled Sienkiewicz home the next at bat.
“They had a really solid pitcher early,” Poland manager Matt Bobbey said. “But we started getting to her about the third. She started losing a little control and then the floodgates opened.”
Nittoli had another two-run single in the fourth that made it 4-0. Lexi Diaz and Caroline Aey both earned bases-loaded walks to push the lead to six. Rachel Wolfe then was hit by a pitch to bring in another run and a fielder’s choice by Brooke Bobbey had Poland cruising with an 8-0 lead.
Nittoli had her third RBI single in the fifth when she drove in Camryn Lattanzio and Sienkiewicz to end the game mercy-rule style.
“Ally came through every time with a big hit,” Matt Bobbey said.
Coming off a loss to Kirkland, Wash., on Tuesday, Matt Bobbey said that game benefited his team and helped them refocus.
“That loss was good for us yesterday,” Matt Bobbey said. “We left some runners on base and made a few fielding mistakes. I think they now realize they need to play well to win. All these teams here are good.”
Poland will move on to single-elimination play today at 4:45 p.m. against East (Westwick North, Rhode Island), the fourth-seeded team coming out of Pool B.