Sports
Sachems get First Win of the Season
After practicing fundamentals for most of the season, it paid off as Winchester defeated Pelham.
Michael Jordan once said, "There is no "i" in team but there is in win."
On Thursday night the Winchester Sachems displayed a different kind of eye. Great discipline at the plate propelled the 10U division girls' softball team to an 18-11 victory over the Pelham New Hampshire Panic at Ginn Field in Winchester.
Fifteen of the Sachems eighteen runs were scored on walks as the team patiently applied the pressure to Pelham's pitchers. It was one indication that months of practice led by Coach Mikie Ulwick are paying off.
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"This is our first season playing competitively," Ulwick said. "This spring we focused on practice, we had eighteen girls and we just started teaching the basics."
The girls rarely chased pitches out of the strike zone. This helped them overturn an early 3-0 deficit and take a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the first, scoring all of their runs on walks.
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In the second inning Pelham bounced back with some timely hitting to retake the lead. But the Sachems remained undaunted. They continued to draw bases on balls, and then Baile Lazarus and Kate Caperan capped the rally with singles that each drove in a run.
The Sachems never relinquished the lead again.
Sophia Pacific, who was the starting pitcher for Winchester, made things look easy early by striking out the first two Pelham batters. She showed good control and finished with seven strikeouts.
Prior to the start of Thursday's game Coach Ulwick continued to work on the fundamentals with her girls, who range in age from 9 to 11-years-old. During infield drills they worked on covering the bases and attacking balls that are hit to them.
The Middlesex Softball League's season runs until August 12. The Sachems will try to keep their wining momentum going into their next game on Tuesday July 27 at Billerica.
The girls exuberantly celebrated Thursday night's victory on the field once the game became official.
"This is the first win of the season," Coach Ulwick said. "I'm getting the girls ice cream."
On this night for the Sachems they had an "i" both in win, and in ice cream.
The Winchester Sachems' players are: Sophia Pacific, Olivia Sakorafos, Kimberlee Collins, Nicole Costales, Clare Lawler, Juliana Bongiorno, Shannon Crowe, Paige Ross, Baile Lazarus, Kate Caperan, Heather Ulwick, Victoria Bianca, Brooke Stevenson, Sydnie Fernsebner and Francesca O'Brien.
