Jones, KP down Mansfield
BY PETER GOBIS SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Thursday, May 17, 2007 11:53 PM EDT
King Philip starting pitcher Jen Jones delivers during Thursday's Hockomock League-clinching win over Mansfield. (Staff photo by MIKE GEORGE)
MANSFIELD - Jen Jones took the bats out of the hands of the Mansfield High Hornets.
The King Philip Regional High junior tamed the Hornets with a nifty, four-hit, one-walk pitching performance as the Warriors not only scored a 4-1 victory, but clinched no less than a share of the Hockomock League championship.
In winning their 15th straight game and in improving to 13-1 in the Hockomock League, the Warriors have now swept both Mansfield and Franklin with only two league games (against Canton and Foxboro) remaining.
Chrissy Cannon and Sara Hedtler, the No. 8 and 9 batters in the order, each supplied two hits to the KP attack in support of Jones, while No. 3 hitter Jen Cassidy also had two hits.
The Warriors overcame an early, one-run deficit by scoring four runs - three with two outs - in the second inning, Bridget Engwer belting an RBI-triple to tie the game, two runs scoring on a botched forceout at the plate and Cassidy following with an RBI-single.
"We try to be very business-like," said KP coach Jim Leonard of packaging Jones' superb outing - which included retiring 10 straight Hornets in one stretch - a nine-hit attack and a flawless defense with freshman third baseman Cara Daley (three assists, one putout) and Cannon (one assist, two putouts), a sophomore second baseman.
Jones was masterful on the mound for KP, shutting out Mansfield through the final six frames, allowing two leadoff batters (in the second and third innings) to reach base, striking out eight Hornets, while retiring 10 straight batters from the third through the first out of the sixth inning.
Most impressively, she retired the Hornet side in order in the fourth inning on six pitches, in the fifth inning on four pitches and again in the seventh with three K's.
"She has good location and good velocity," added Leonard of Jones. "They're (Mansfield) a good team, we know each other's tendencies. What we're seeing is the culmination of a good relationship between her (Jones)and her catcher (Bridget Engwer)."
Mansfield took the lead in the first inning with a two-out rally, Liz Moore having a single and scoring on Erin Keogh's mammoth triple into left field.
But, thereafter the Hornets were left stranded. Kaitlyn Kennedy spanked a leadoff single in the second, but Jones then retired the next two batters on strikes and first baseman Suze Waters flagged down a flyball to end the frame.
In the third, Meg Birnie, the Hornets' leadoff batter, drew the lone free pass to first base that Jones would allow. However, Daley made two clever pickups for the first and third outs, while Cannon scooped up another ground ball for the second out.
The lone Hornet to reach base over the final four frames, Moore with a one-out single in the sixth was stranded too. Jones got Keogh on a first pitch flyball to center fielder Jen Cassidy and got Samantha Bourque on a second pitch line drive to left fielder Samantha Cassidy.
"They deserved it (Hockomock title), they beat us twice, they beat Franklin twice," said Mansfield mentor Brian Clemmey. "Usually what happens in a game like this is that one mistake wins it - and it did."
Because, instead of being deadlocked at 1-1 in the second inning, the Hornets supplied KP with three runs.
Maggie Quealy drew a leadoff walk from Hornet freshman hurler Rebecca Levine and scored the tying run on a mammoth triple into left field off the bat of Engwer.
Then matters turn a turn for the worse for Mansfield and KP benefited. Both Cannon and Hedtler both reached base on infield singles to jam the bags.
The Hornets had cut down Engwer at the plate on a relay from second baseman Heather McPherson for the second out of the frame. Waters then tapped a slow rolling ground ball that was fielded, but the throw to the plate was errant and both Cannon and Hedtler crossed it to give KP a 3-1 lead. Jen Cassidy followed with an RBI-single into center field.
"Instead of it being 1-1, they're (KP) playing loose with a three-run lead," sighed Clemmey.
KP could have done greater damage, having runners on base in every inning but the fourth, stranding 10 overall, including the bases loaded in the sixth.
Since losing their season opener to Stoughton, KP is indeed the team to beat in the Hockomock League. And neither Mansfield or Franklin, the next best couldn't do it - twice.
Mansfield has a non-league game at home Monday with Bishop Feehan, while KP visits Hopkinton Tuesday for a non-league game.
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