In the top of the third inning at Adams Field, after Cranford brought in nine runs in the bottom of the second — three of them being home runs — senior Leah Abrams answered the Cougar offense with a solo home run of her own, bringing the score to 12-4. Though with the overall nine runs the Blue Devils scored, it would still not be enough as the Cougar offense stayed hot, handing the Blue Devils a loss, 16-9.
Earlier in the season, the Blue Devils faced Cranford, where they ultimately lost in a close game, 12-11. Head coach Caitlin Cheddar remarked on how they were already familiarized with the power the Cougars could bring. “Last time we faced them, we knew that they could hit,” Cheddar said. “They scored 11 runs off us last time, but we were able to score 10, so we knew it was gonna be a big back-and-forth game. We just needed to kind of keep it as clean as we could on defense, knowing they were going to get their hits.”
Despite going in with a mindset of maintaining defensive stamina, the team fell short. Cheddar said, “Our defense needs to be much cleaner. If you score nine runs, you should win a game.”
Looking to improve, sophomore shortstop Darby Revock said, “We can improve by giving it our all and 110 percent effort on every play, as well as communicating with each other and supporting our pitcher. That can help us make the plays that need to be made.”
Westfield paced Cranford in the first inning, but come the second, the Blue Devils put themselves into a hole, one that knocked the team out a bit mentally. Senior Kayla Reyes said, “I think the team did well at the beginning, coming in with a good mindset. However, as we were going through the game, once Cranford was making hits and making plays in the field, we kind of got down on ourselves and thought that we’re not in this game anymore, and we started to not play our best.”
The girls look to bounce back quickly, facing Dayton tomorrow at 4 p.m. at home. “We don’t have a lot of time to do much as far as preparation, other than mental,” Cheddar explained. “What we’re doing has largely not been super effective on an individual and a team level, so we’re just gonna keep at it, keep working. That’s all you can do.”
