BOW – Sam Hodkinson hadn’t thrown a single pitch since being removed in the first inning against Windham on May 10.
The ace and tone-setter for the Merrimack Valley softball team was sorely missed. The Pride took losses in both games during her absence, but her return Wednesday gave MV the late-season shot in the arm it needed – even if she wasn’t expecting it too.
“When I was warming up I wasn’t looking so good,” said Hodkinson, who worked the first two innings for the Pride in a 13-0 mercy-rule shortened victory at Bow. “I was not hitting my catcher’s mitt at all, and then I went out there and I had a lot of confidence. I was really glad I was able to get the strikeouts that I did.”
Hodkinson didn’t work deep into the game, but MV didn’t need her to. The Pride plated eight runs in the first two inning, and the with the combination of Hodkinson and sophomore Haleigh Boutwell, MV one-hit the Falcons (2-11) for its ninth win of the year.
“I’m real happy with what we’ve done,” MV Coach Sam York said. “I mean 9-4 in this division is good. I think when you look at the standings, there’s a group of about nine or 10 teams that are well over .500, and there’s a group that aren’t. I think we’ve been fortunate enough to play a little bit of both. You never want to play all the ones who aren’t being really successful because you want to make sure you’re tournament ready.”
“It was a little nerve-wracking at first coming back from an injury,” Hodkinson said. “I know I have my team out there to back me up and they know how to field the ball and get outs. So I had confidence in my team behind me.”Of the eight batters Hodkinson faced, she struck out five of them, throwing 25 of her 39 pitches on the afternoon for strikes as Bow struggled to make contact with the senior’s zipping fastball.
Boutwell entered in the third with a 13-0 lead after MV sent nine batters to the plate in a five-run third inning. There was little falloff between the two hurlers. Boutwell allowed just one base hit – a single by Sara Anoli – in three innings of work, striking out one and playing her part in keeping the Falcons off the scoreboard.
Boutwell was able to come into the contest with such a large lead after the Pride chased Bow starter Aspen Mascarenas after two innings. The Pride knocked home a pair of runs on a fielder’s choice groundout from Miranda Crane and a RBI single off the bat of Miah Boucher to make it 10-0 in the third. Brooke Palmer then supplied MV with the hit it needed to effectively end the game, smashing a two-run triple to left field.
The victory was a welcoming sign for York. MV began the season on fire at 5-0, but had gone just 2-4 this month before Wednesday’s win and a 5-0 blanking of Kingswood on Tuesday. York gave all the credit to his players.
“It’s been their hard work. They know how to play the game,” York said. “I think sometimes any athlete can get into a slump and they just work as hard as they can to get out of it. Anybody can get into bad habits and they are doing a good job of trying to put those behind them.”
For the Falcons, their first season in Division II has been a struggle. Without the benefit of a JV team and low numbers on the roster, Bow is trying to develop players on the fly, all while attempting to stay competitive in a division where 12 of the 22 programs are above .500.
Bow has picked up wins over Oyster River (18-9 on May 1) and Hollis-Brookline (10-9 on May 8), but the team has also surrendered 20-plus runs four times, and allowed double-digit runs in nine of its 13 games.
“Everything really,” said Bow Coach Rick Ladd when asked what the biggest challenge has been for the Falcons this season. “It’s just been a rough season. … It’s been a great group of kids and no one has quit and no one has gotten down. They are all happy and are all playing as good as they can.”
Both teams will return to the diamond on Friday. MV shoots for its third straight win at home against Plymouth, while Bow wraps up its six-game homestand against Kennett.
