Spielman's slam fuels James Wood's softball win over Millbrook

By JERRY HOLSWORTH | Special To The Winchester Star

May 10, 2018

WINCHESTER — A Lani Spielman grand slam, a two-hit shutout and 11 strikeouts from Ivy Rosenberry, and three Millbrook errors to begin the fifth inning keyed the James Wood softball team’s 8-0 Class 4 Northwestern District win over host Millbrook on Thursday.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Colonels (13-4, 8-3 district). James Wood has two more regular-season games before the district tournament starts on May 18.

“This was a good win for us,” Colonels coach Todd Baker said. “Now it’s time to start getting ready for the tournaments coming up. We’ve played really strong defense all year. Our bats have been inconsistent at times. We’ve worked really hard on that the last couple of weeks, and it looks that is coming around too.”

After two scoreless innings, the Colonel bats exploded to take the lead in a big way. A walk by Emma Van Horn, a single by Olivia Miller and a walk by Rebecca Boone loaded the bases with two outs.

Lani Spielman then smashed a Sophie Pell pitch over the left-field fence for a grand slam and a 4-0 Colonel lead.

“It was exciting and I thought it was a good way to get our offense started,” Spielman said. “She threw me a fastball right across the middle of the plate.”

Spielman’s blast seemed to take the air out of the Pioneers (7-12, 4-7). It showed when Millbrook committed three errors to begin the fifth inning, allowing the Colonels to add another three runs.

Lindsey Anderson, Boone, and Spielman all advanced to begin the fifth thanks to fielding errors on three ground balls. Abigail Brannon followed with a single up the middle to score Anderson and Boone and make it 6-0.

Brannon’s performance in the fifth was part of an excellent night at the plate for the Wood designated hitter. She finished the game 3 for 4 with two RBIs.

“I’m very happy with how things turned out tonight,” Brannon said. “It was fun to go out there and put in some work.”

“Brannon is not a normal starter for us,” Baker said. “But she’s worked so hard in practice that we thought we’d give her a shot tonight. She really came through, but I had a lot of confidence that she would.”

Spielman got the final run of the fifth inning when she scored off a single up the middle by MacKenzie McCarty (2 or 3, 2 RBIs) to make it 7-0.

“We allowed them to get three runners in a position to score,” Millbrook coach Mandee Madden said. “That really hurt, and, of course, Lani’s homer hurt, too. That really did us in.

“We also didn’t score any runs and it’s hard to win when you do that.”

Wood added another run in the seventh when Camryn Rizzari scored on a sacrifice fly to center by McCarty.

While the Colonel bats were scoring eight runs on 10 hits against Pell, Rosenberry completely shut down the Pioneer offense. Millbrook did get runners on base and two advanced into scoring position, but Rosenberry kept them from reaching home plate every time.

“I felt really good out there tonight,” said Rosenberry, who walked only one batter. “This was a big conference win for us. My curve was really working tonight, and my velocity was there, too.”

After Pell began the second with a single to right, Rosenberry answered by striking out two of the next three batters. She struck out two Pioneer batters in five of her seven innings in the circle.

“Ivy was really hitting her spots pitching tonight,” Colonel coach Todd Baker said. “She had the changeup tonight, too. When she can do that she’s really hard to beat.”

Pell took the loss, allowing eight runs on 10 hits. She walked one and didn’t register a strikeout.