LINWOOD – Despite a rough 13-run deficit in the first inning, the Mainland Mustangs softball team did not throw in the towel. They kept fighting against the Clearview Pioneers April 29.
Down 13-0 before their first at-bat the Mustangs were seemingly out of the game from the jump. With nothing left to lose, the Mainland Regional High School girls played a solid game the rest the way before ultimately falling to Clearview High School 18-6.
The Mustangs outscored the Pioneers 6-5 after the first inning and left a positive impression on head coach Brian Smith for how they kept playing.
“There were positive things to look at and build upon out there,” Smith said. “We hit the ball and made some defensive plays. The message I had at the end of the game was if you take out that first inning, we outscored them 6-5. We know that we can make the plays, but we just cannot come out and give up 13 runs in the opening inning.”
Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong to start the game for Mainland with uncharacteristic misplays on defense that gave up extra bases and runs. Once the Mustangs got out of the inning, they rattled off six runs and showed resiliency.
Mackenzie Hornig went 3-for-3 at the plate with three singles and freshman Addison Moore drove in two runs. Moore took over for Hornig at shortstop after Hornig started the game at pitcher due to some bad injury news the day of the game.
Before the game even started the Mustangs had to deal with a big blow to their lineup as number one pitcher Mallory Grasso was officially sidelined for two weeks with an ankle injury. The sophomore had pitched two days prior in a 12-6 win over Middle Township but now the Mustangs had to make do without their cornerstone pitcher.
“Our number one pitcher is out now for two weeks so we had to move some people around,” Smith said. “We are bringing in our shortstop to pitch which starts the trickle-down of moving players to shortstop and so on. We must have that next-player-up mentality and that is what we are telling the girls, that everyone needs to step up their game. Now we must improve at all facets of the game, and we showed in the rest of the game we can compete.”
Grasso has a 7-2 record this season with a 3.89 ERA and left her duties to Hornig. Hornig mostly plays shortstop but has pitched in 28 innings so far this season as Grasso’s backup.
The game against Clearview was Mainland’s third in three days and now, down to a single pitcher for the first half of May, the Mustangs must adapt on the fly.
“Going without her is tough but in a way the consecutive games can help us because we need the reps,” Smith said. “Everyone needs to get used to some new positions and raise their level which can only really be done with live reps. It’s a matter of stepping up and doing your job. We don’t need anyone to be superhuman.”
The next game for Mainland (7-6) will be on May 8 at home against Cedar Creek High School. Game time is set for 4 p.m. and will be a quick turnaround to their next game one day later against Williamstown High School. Mainland will travel to Williamstown May 9 for an early 9 a.m. first start.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
