Keuster, Mallett lead offensive barrage as Lee defeats MA Lynx

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LEE – It’s easy to see how the recent wet weather has affected some high school softball teams.

It’s hard to get in practices on your field with all the rain and snow lately. It’s meant a lot of rust and not a lot of chances for new fielders to get experience.

Junior Jessie Keuster provided a spark for the Lee softball team with a triple, two singles and four RBIs as the Pandas outslugged rival Mattanawcook of Lincoln, winning an error-filled contest 20-13 Wednesday at Clemons Field.

The Pandas, who played just their third game of the season and haven’t had a full practice yet because of weather and some players’ previous commitments, got to 3-0 despite eight errors in the field. The Lynx committed five miscues.

Mattanawcook falls to 3-3.

It was clear from the first inning that with two relatively inexperienced pitchers on the mound in Lee’s Katie Harris and MA’s Kasse Brown, the teams would go to their offense often.

“Lincoln’s always our big rival and we knew they had a good pitcher, so we knew it was going to come down to hitting,” senior Deidra Ham said. “We always hit well, it’s just, our fielding wasn’t too great today.”

The Lynx plated two runs in the first when Jill Murchison led off with a double and scored on a Jaide Littlefield double. Littlefield came in on a passed ball and an error.

The Pandas came back with four runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to three walks, a two-run double by Kristen Hersom and a Brittany Mallett RBI single.

MA took a 5-4 lead in the second but Lee rallied again, this time racking up seven runs to lead it for good. Keuster had an two-run single in that inning, and Shelby Pickering and Hersom added RBI doubles.

Lee plated four more runs in the bottom of the fourth and three in the sixth to put the game out of reach.

Among the big numbers for Lee:

. Ham was 4-for-4 with two singles and two doubles, she reached base in every at-bat (she walked in the first inning), scored five runs and stole two bases.

. Keuster scored three runs and recorded two stolen bases.

. Pickering was 3-for-4 with three singles, scored three runs and drove in three.

. Mallett, the No. 7 hitter in the order, was 5-for-5 (four singles and a double) and added three RBIs.

. Sam Cole, who is ninth in the order, hit three singles, scored three runs and drove in three runs.

Several MA players had fine outings, too. Arikka Knights, who came in to catch in the third inning, was 3-for-3 with a double and two singles and racked up three RBIs and three runs.

Chelsea McCafferty hit three singles and added a sacrifice fly.

“We just wanted to play some solid defense and hit the ball ourselves,” MA coach Dean Libbey said. “I knew it was going to be a high-scoring game and whoever made the less mistakes was going to come out the winner.”

PANDAS 20, LYNX 13

Mattanawcook (3-3) Lee (3-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Ji. Murchison, 2b 4 3 1 0 Harris, p 5 1

b-Cousineau, 2b 1 0 1 0 D. Ham, 2b 4 1

Whitney, c-p 5 0 1 0 Keuster, 3b 5 3 4

Littlefield, ss 3 1 1 1 Pickering, c 4 2

Taylor, ss 2 2 1 0 Linscott, ss 4 1 1

Brown, p 1 0 0 0 Hersom, 1b 5 3 3

Knights, c 3 2 3 3 Mallett, lf 5 2 3

Nicastro, 3b 5 1 2 1 Gifford, cf 4 0 0

McKinnon, lf 2 0 0 0 f-Grass 1 0 0 0

a-Gulesian 0 1 0 0 Cole, rf 4 1 2

Leighton, lf 1 1 0 0 c-MacDonald 0 1 0

Nelson, lf 2 0 0 0

McCafferty, cf 3 1 3 1

Pietras, 1b 3 0 0 0

e-Emery 1 0 0 0

Shorey, rf-lf-cf 3 1 1 0

g-Je. Murchison 0 0 0 0

Totals 39 13 14 6 Totals 41 20 22 17

a-ran for McKinnon in the third; b-ran for Whitney in the fourth; c-ran for Cole in the fourth; d-ran for McKinnon in the fifth; e-reached on fielder’s choice for Pietras in the fifth; f-struck out for Gifford in the fifth; g-ran for Shorey in the seventh

Mattanawcook 232 012 3 ? 13

Lee 472 403 x ? 20

E?Ji. Murchison, Whitney, Littlefield, McKinnon, McCafferty; Linscott 3, Mallett 2, D. Ham, Keuster, Gifford; LOB?Mattanawcook 9, Lee 6; 2B?Ji. Murchison, Knights, Littlefield; D. Ham 2, Hersom, Mallett; 3B?Littlefield, Taylor; Keuster; SF?McCafferty; SB?Nicastro, Gulesian, McCafferty, Pietras; D. Ham 2, Linscott 2, Keuster 2, Hersom

Mattanawcook IP H R ER BB SO

Brown (L, 3-2) 2 9 11 5 3 1

Whitney 4 13 9 5 0 3

Lee IP H R ER BB SO

Harris (W, 3-0) 7 14 13 7 1 0

WP?Brown 3; Harris 2; PB?Knights 3, Whitney; Pickering 3 T?2:06; ATT?150 (est.)