By PAUL GOTHAM
BROCKPORT, N.Y. — Lilly Goldberg struck out a dozen and hurled a two-hit shutout as Pittsford Mendon defeated host Brockport, 5-0 on Monday.
The senior right-hander retired the first 13 batters she faced before giving up a one-out single to right center.
“The one advantage we have is the kid in the circle,” Mendon head coach Scott Parsons said of Goldberg – the reigning Section V Class A2 Player of the Year. “She can cover up a lot of our warts. In a lot of games, we just have to find five or six outs. That’s huge for us.”
After getting a pair of opposite field fly balls to start the game, Goldberg did not allow another ball out of the infield until the third out of the fourth inning. She finished the day inducing four groundball outs and limited Brockport to one runner past first base.
“She’s the kinda kid where you don’t really know if she’s winning or losing,” Parsons said. “She doesn’t let things bother her. She’s very focused and very competitive. She’s a tough, competitive kid.”
Lilly Goldberg has fanned six straight. @MendonVSoftball 3-0 heading to the fourth. pic.twitter.com/4Ac16QWtUe
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 15, 2024
Lilly Goldberg finishes it off with a change up. FINAL: @MendonVSoftball 5 @Bport_BDSB 0 pic.twitter.com/t2Y9XVl61D
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 15, 2024
With the win, Mendon improved to 7-0 on the season with three of those victories coming on the team’s recent Spring Break trip to Orlando, Florida. For a Mendon team that starts two eighth graders at the corner outfield positions and freshmen at first base and shortstop, the time away helped the Vikings bond.
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“Counting the scrimmages, we had six games,” Parsons said of the trip. “You’re not going to be able to do that up here during spring break. That’s huge. The girls played great. They had a great week together. That all helps moving forward in terms of chemistry and playing together.”
Mendon loaded the bases in the first inning. Madeline Fallows scored on a Quinn Sargent RBI ground out. Greta Marino made it a 2-0 game with a run-scoring single.
Marino brought in Emily Stanger with an RBI ground out in the third.
The score stayed that way until the seventh.
“We just made too many mistakes,” Brockport head coach Nick Petitti said after his team committed five errors. “We were in it. A couple plays here or there. We got to do a better job hitting the ball.”
Sargent delivered a two-out, two-run single in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
Quinn Sargent’s two-out single scores two and gives @MendonVSoftball a 5-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/IdwQVe5b89
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 15, 2024
“That at-bat at the end for her was huge,” Parsons said of Sargent, a ninth-grade first baseman. “Going into the bottom of the seventh up five-nothing is entirely different than up three-nothing. Three-nothing, a bloop with a kid on second base suddenly it’s a two-run game. That was huge for her and for us.”
Sargent, Marino and Fallows all finished 2-for-4 on the day. Goldberg was 2-for-2.
Brockport’s Olivia Zimmerman broke up the no-hitter with a single in the fifth. Maeve Pettiti reached on a bunt single in the sixth.
Hannah Carpenter struck out four allowed five runs (two earned) on 10 hits and one walk for the Blue Devils (1-5).
Hannah Carpenter handles the comebacker to leave runners on second and third. Heading to the bottom of the fourth: @MendonVSoftball 3 @Bport_BDSB 0 pic.twitter.com/T5KwbvSaNT
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 15, 2024
“She’s been kinda thrown into the fire,” Petitti said of the sophomore pitcher who is in her fourth year on varsity. “She keeps us in games. She’s usually a beast at the plate too, but Lilly’s tough. Hannah will usually keep us in games.
“It’s really about executing on the plays that are there. If a team is going to have 15 hits against us and knock the ball all over the yard, you tip your cap to them. These situations where we’re getting ground balls in huge spots, we’re just not executing the plays. Those come back to bite us. Our margin of error is small to begin with. When you add Lilly to the mix, the margin gets even smaller.”
The same two teams will meet on May 3rd.
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