By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Grace Morgan hurled a complete game. Maggie Smith paced the offense, and the Brighton Bruins overcame some uncharacteristic fielding woes to stay undefeated with a 6-2 victory over visiting Pittsford Sutherland on Tuesday.
Trailing 2-0 after a half-inning of play, Smith got Brighton on the board with her first of three hits on the day. Next time to the plate, the senior’s two-out RBI single capped a three-run second as the Bruins took a lead they did not surrender.
“She has ice in her veins and nothing fazes her,” Brighton head coach Jim Purtell said. “You just ask her to do something and she does it. She’s the rock of the team.”
With the win, Brighton improved to a record of 6 wins without a loss on the season.
“Common denominator is Maggie hitting and leading this team,” Purtell said of his squad’s success thus far. “She’s always talking to everybody and keeping them on their toes.”
Maggie Smith is 2-for-2 on the day with a pair of RBI. This single was the third straight 2-out knock for @brightonbruins to take a 4-2 lead into the third. pic.twitter.com/Q9tfF3Ir2r
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 12, 2022
Morgan overcame a first inning in which the Bruins committed three errors and.
“We committed one error until today,” Purtell noted. “We gave them five outs (in the first). We let them come to bat again and again. She just focused. She didn’t care.”
The junior right-hander retired nine of the last 11 she faced and tossed the first complete game this season for Brighton.
Grace Morgan fans two in a 1-2-3 top of the second. @Sutherland_SB 2 @brightonbruins 1 pic.twitter.com/tRuzoydygq
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 12, 2022
“She just kept throwing strikes,” Purtell added. “She knew eventually our defense would come through. She stayed mentally tough.”
Morgan started the decisive second-inning rally with a two-out infield single. She stole and after Sophia Falvo walked, the two moved up one base apiece on a wild pitch.
Vanessa Ng tied the game with a base hit. Falvo scored on another wild pitch, and Smith made it a 4-2 with a single to center that scored Ng.
Good read off the bat by Vanessa Ng. @brightonbruins pic.twitter.com/3JgBL1ABJR
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 12, 2022
The loss was the first this season for Sutherland (4-1).
“We’re still in a mode of the season where we’re figuring out what we’re going to do,” said Knights head coach Mike Scialo who starts a seventh and eighth grader along with two ninth graders. “It’s kinda what we do every year. We move people around for the first five games. We try to find a lineup that’s going to work the rest of the year.”
Addison Bernas singled and scored a run for Sutherland while Julianna Lyons, Riley Gonzalez, Petra Hunt and Alexander Sippel each collected a hit. Tia Lehtonen stole two bases and scored the other Sutherland run.
Ng was 2-for-3 with two runs scored for the Bruins. Morgan also had two hits in three at-bats along with two stolen bases. Isabella Rossi doubled and scored in the third. Maria Minamier singled and scored.
Brighton travels to Our Lady of Mercy for a 4:30 pm first pitch on Wednesday.
Sutherland travels to Brockport for a 5 pm on Wednesday.
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