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NEWPORT – Before Tuesday’s Class A softball matchup against Brewer, Nokomis coach Kelly Flagg made a short speech thanking seniors Tina Turner and Kaycea Grignon for leading the Warriors through one of the program’s best seasons in recent years.
Nokomis, which has already beaten a stellar Old Town team this year, took another big step at the high school field here.
Aimee Paradis and Tia Beauregard each recorded an RBI in the bottom of the sixth inning and Michelle Murray pitched a two-hitter as the Warriors edged the perennial powerhouse Witches 2-1 in a game well-played by both teams.
“Today’s game was a crucial point for us,” Nokomis coach Kelly Flagg said.
For the Warriors (8-6), it came down to a string of timely singles and Brewer pitcher Sherri Capponi’s only walk of the game.
Lindsey Welch, who had struck out twice earlier in the game, led off the sixth with a single but was unable to advance on two flyouts. Danielle Clark, who had doubled in the second, singled Welch to second base. Welch scored to tie the game on a Paradis single.
“I wasn’t thinking about [the baserunners] because I usually psych myself out when I do that. I was just thinking, base hit, that’s all I want,” Paradis said.
Clark went to second, and Tina Turner hit a line-drive single to centerfield that put Clark at third and Paradis at second.
Beauregard, who like Welch had struck out twice earlier, was next in the order. She drew a bases-loaded walk, Clark scored and the Warriors had a 2-1 lead.
Flagg had a few words with Welch before the leadoff single.
“[Capponi] pitches very quickly and she’s deceiving if the batter isn’t ready when they step into the box and she’s ready to throw,” Flagg said. “I just said to [Welch], make sure that you’re ready before you get in the box. She had struck out the time before because she wasn’t ready and she had to step in and swing.”
Capponi struck out the final batter of the inning.
“She just wasn’t hitting any spots,” Brewer coach Kelly Cookson said of the senior pitcher.
Murray induced a flyout – Clark caught the ball with her back to the infield – and two groundouts in the top of the seventh to end the game.
Brewer (11-3) scored its run in the top of the fourth. Amy Freeman led off with a walk, advanced on a Capponi groundout and an Anna Corey single, and scored on Jessica Whalen’s single to right field.
Corey and Whalen eventually got to third and second, respectively, but the Witches left them on base.
“[The offense] hasn’t been there all year,” Cookson said.
Corey, a freshman leftfielder who recently moved up from the junior varsity, caught fly balls for the first two outs of the fourth inning. She made the second catch in foul territory and ran hard into the leftfield fence. Corey was fine, and two batters later made another running catch for the final out.
Earlier in the day the Nokomis girls had been to the committal service for Mandi Foss, a Nokomis student who was killed in a snowmobile accident in December. Foss was a basketball and field hockey player and knew many of the girls on the softball team.
“They really had to come back and focus on the game, put that aside and out of their minds, and I think that gave them the strength and the determination to come out and play,” Flagg said.
WARRIORS 2, WITCHES 1
Brewer (11-3) Nokomis (8-6)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
Sa. DeFilipp, cf 3 0 0 0 Welch, c 3 0
A. Freeman, 2b 2 1 0 0 Murray, p 3 0
McAvoy, ss 3 0 0 0 Grignon, 3b 3 0 0
Capponi, p 3 0 0 0 Clark, ss 3 1 0
Corey 3 0 1 0 Paradis, 2b 3 0 1
Whalen, dh 3 0 1 1 Turner, lf 2 0 0
Coutts, 1b 0 0 0 0 Beauregard, rf 2 0 1
McLaughlin, rf 3 0 0 0 Holland, dh 3 0
Wing, c 1 0 0 0 Bowden, cf 0 0 0
a-Wolfe 0 0 0 0 Hopkins, 1b 2 0 0
Sar. DeFilipp, 3b 2 0 0 0
Totals 23 1 2 1 Totals 24 2 7 2
a-ran for Wing in the third
Brewer 000 100 0?1
Nokomis 000 002 x?2
LOB?Brewer 3, Nokomis 5; 2B?Clark; SB?Corey, Whalen
Brewer IP H R ER BB SO
Capponi (L, 10-3) 6 7 2 2 1 6
Nokomis IP H R ER BB SO
Murray (W, 6-6) 7 2 1 1 2 0
HBP?Turner by Capponi; WP?Capponi; Murray; T?1:02; ATT?50 (est.)
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