Belfast’s Morgan Crandall no-hits MCI

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PITTSFIELD – It wasn’t the no-hitter. It wasn’t the home run. It wasn’t necessarily the win. Those things had happened for junior Morgan Crandall during her career on the Belfast softball team.

Instead, it was a defensive play that had Crandall talking after she led the Lions to a 7-1 victory over Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference rival Maine Central Institute, no-hitting the Huskies and hitting a three-run homer en route to her sixth win of the season.

“The steal we threw out in the sixth that really got us going,” Crandall said. “Samantha Ellis tagged her when she came off the bag. [Catcher Melissa Gray] threw a beautiful throw to second and [Ellis] stayed with it, which was really heads-up for a freshman.”

Crandall had already thrown two no-hitters so Wednesday’s effort wasn’t a big deal to her. She allowed just three baserunners, struck out three, gave up one walk and one run, which was unearned, in the win at a sunny, windy Manson Park. It was the first time the Lions (6-3) had won at Pittsfield in four years, Belfast coach Dick LaHaye said.

Crandall threw 73 pitches, the fewest she has recorded in a game this year. She got MCI to keep the ball on the ground and the defense responded with 15 putouts.

“I wanted to make them work, put them on the outside corner so they just got little dribblers down the first-base line or hits right back up the middle,” Crandall said. “Other than that they didn’t hit the ball hard at all.”

The homer was her third of the season and plated Ellis and Lauren Overlock, who had both singled.

The home run was a nice way to end the game, but for Belfast the critical runs were the three put up in the first two innings. LaHaye felt his team needed an early lead against MCI pitcher Jenn Cummings.

“She’s a very good pitcher, exceptionally strong,” LaHaye said. “My experience with her is, if you get to her early, you have a better chance at being successful. And we did. We jumped out early and we made it stick.”

In the first, Melissa Gray logged an RBI groundout and Melissa Brown singled and plated Crandall, but the runs were unearned because of MCI miscues.

Ashley Bryant led off the second with a triple and scored on a Kate Ross single to make it 3-0.

“We made some errors that we hadn’t made since the beginning of the season,” Huskies coach Matt Kamarck said. “In this league you just can’t make those errors.”

The MCI defense looked much better in the middle innings. The Huskies, now 4-5, threw out two lead runners and turned two double plays.

MCI scored its run in the bottom of the third thanks to two Belfast errors. After Crandall struck out the first batter of the inning, Ashley Currier got all the way to second on an error, and scored on another error on a fielder’s choice ball put into play by Missy Hussey.

LIONS 7, HUSKIES 1

Belfast (6-3) MCI (4-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Ellis, ss 4 1 2 0 Stevens, rf 2 0 0

Overlock, cf 4 2 1 0 Jones, lf 3 0 0

Crandall, p 4 2 2 3 Hendricks, 1b 3 0 0

Gray, c 4 0 0 1 Cummings, p 3 0 0

Brown, 3b 4 0 1 1 Lancaster, ss 3 0 0

Flagg, rf 2 0 1 0 Littlefield, c-3b 2 0

a-Briggs 1 0 0 0 Ingraham, 2b 2 0 0

Bryant, lf 3 2 2 0 Currier, cf 1 1 0

Ross, 1b 3 0 3 2 Hei. Long, cf 1 0 0

Walker, dh 2 0 0 0 Hussey, 3b 1 0 0

Beal, 2b 0 0 0 0 Hea. Long, c 1 0 0

b-Mehuren 1 0 0 0

Totals 32 7 12 7 Totals 22 1 0 0

a-grounded out for Flagg in the sixth; b-grounded out for Walker in the seventh

Belfast 210 001 3 ? 7

Maine Central Institute 001 000 0 ? 1

E?Ellis, Ross; Hendricks, Lancaster, Littlefield; LOB?Belfast 3, MCI 1; 2B?Ross; 3B?Bryant; HR?Crandall (3); DP?Cummings-Hendricks-Littlefield, Cumming-Hendricks; SB?Walker, Ross, Bryant

Belfast IP H R ER BB SO

Crandall (W, 6-3) 7 0 1 0 1 3

MCI IP H R ER BB SO

Cummings (L, 4-5) 7 12 7 5 0 0

WP?Cummings; T?1:12; ATT?75 (est.)