Pawtucket Times

Davies rolls past Central

Fisher leads Patriots to statement home victory

By BRANDEN MELLO bmello@woonsocketcall.com

LINCOLN — Davies Tech sophomore pitcher Gabriella Fisher and the rest of the Patriots started practice two weeks ago thinking about Friday afternoon’s Division IV opener against rival Central.

Not only did the Patriots want to win to start the season on the right foot, but they wanted to extract a measure of revenge on a Knight team that beat them by 21 runs in last season’s losers’ bracket final.

Fisher did her job in the circle by striking out 10 batters and pitching a five-inning shutout, while the Patriot bats exploded for seven runs in the first

two innings to make an early statement. Shortstop Reiley Murray and sophomore catcher Maddie Blanchette each scored three runs to lead the Pats to a 12- 0 mercy- rule home win.

“This is big for us because they took us out in the playoffs last year, so for us to come back and do what we did, I’m very proud of my girls and I,” Fisher said. “For this team to be successful, we just need to keep our head in the game and give it our all like we have. This game proved that we can compete with the best teams and we’re going to do it.”

“Because of what happened last year, we wanted to get on top and stay on top of them,” said Pawtucket resident and firstyear Patriot coach David Blanchette. “I want to see everyone making contact and getting on base. I want to see both of our pitchers [Fisher and Lauren Bradshaw] play well. We have 10 players on the roster right now and we may have 11, but I like what we have.”

Davies Tech (1-0 Division IV) travel to the Brayton Avenue Softball Complex Tuesday afternoon to take on Cranston East and the Patriots are back in Lincoln on April 11 to take on Tiverton. Central, which lost in last season’s Division III final to Sholman, lost just once in the regular season in 2022.

The raw conditions weren’t optimal to pitch or hit Friday afternoon, but Fisher had no trouble in the circle. The sophomore struck out the first two batters she faced and she only faced one batter over the minimum through the first three innings.

She stranded a pair of runners in the fourth inning and then escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning when junior second baseman Sara Chiaverini dove to her right to make a superb stop and flip to Murray to end the inning. “No, this was not good weather for me because I like to pitch in warm weather,” Fisher said. “I don’t know why I pitched so well, I just stayed in my game. I didn’t get in my head today and that’s because I’ve been practicing my mental game a lot. My teammates also helped me out a lot with nice plays.”

The Patriots scored all the runs they would need in the first inning on runs from Murray, Blanchette and Fisher. Chiaverini, the lead-off hitter, Murray, Blanchette and sophomore Tiana Hernandez increased the lead to 7-0 in the second. After going down in order in the third inning, the Pats plated five runs in the fourth to secure the victory.

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2023-04-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-04-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://pawtuckettimes.pressreader.com/article/281638194469546

Alberta Newspaper Group