By CLYDE HUGHES/Special to the Sentinel
MAYS LANDING – In an up-and-down season where Mainland Regional’s softball team has shown flashes of strength along with the frustration of inconsistent play, the Mustangs managed put it altogether in a 6-2 road victory last week against Atlantic Institute of Technology.
It was one of the hottest days of the year as temperatures soared into the low 90s, leaving players and fans ducking for shade when they were not required to be out in the sun playing or watching the contest from their favorite vantage point.
The Mustangs stand at 8-11 going into this week’s action, 6-5 in the Cape Atlantic League’s National Division. Mainland will close out the regular season this week as the Mustangs fight to get to .500. They played at Hammonton on Tuesday, return home Wednesday to take on Our Lady of Mercy and then travel to Buena on Thursday.
“We’ve been struggling this year because we’re a fairly young team,” head coach Brian Smith said. Mainland followed up the win with two tournament losses last Friday against veteran squads Williamstown (14-11) and Paul VI (18-2).
“They had to get their feet wet. They have to get used to coming through in situations and making plays and keeping their focus. Against ACIT, we did that. For the most part, we were able to get a couple of big hits, like you saw with the (Rayna) Molina triple,” Smith said.
Smith admitted that the Mustangs still remain a work in progress.
“We’ve been working on making the simple softball plays and today we were able to make those plays,” Smith said. “Being able to get the first runs really helped us get a sigh of relief and put the pressure on them to come back. They helped us relax a little this game.”
Mainland’s Isabella Canesi, who appears to be just coming into her own after joining the team late from the late volleyball season because of the coronavirus pandemic, grinded out a pitching performance that just allowed two late ACIT runs.
“Yes, it was hot out there but I knew I had to pitch strikes for my team and let them fall back and make the play,” the junior said.
For Smith, it was a welcomed sight, getting a strong pitching performance out of Canesi along with time hitting. He said he hopes the game was a sign where Mainland is finally starting to emerge into the team they can be.
“They are learning to make every pitch important,” Smith said. “I’m going to give [Canesi] a lot of credit. She hasn’t pitched a lot of innings for us this year. She’s coming off of a long and intense volleyball season, so got a little bit of a late start.
“We really put it on her shoulders today and she gave us a performance that we know we can get from her. She delivered that today. Now we can look forward to having a couple of arms we can turn to along with our freshman Bella D’Agostino,” Smith added.
Canesi and Atlantic Tech’s Maura Furst were locked in a pitching duel most of the contest that saw the Mustangs enter the seventh inning with a slim 2-1 lead.
Molina, whose triple in the third inning helped give the Mustangs an early lead, made it on base again with an infield single with one out. After a sacrifice moved her to second, Canesi helped her own cause with an RBI single to left.
Ava Kinkler walked and Megan Tierney drove in the second run with a single to center. Mainland scored its third run on a fielder’s choice grounder by Denver Obermeyer where the Tierney was ruled safe at second.
Haley DaPratto reached on an error scoring a fourth run to lift Mainland to a 6-1 lead.
Mainland broke the ice in the third inning when Molina slapped her one-out triple to right field and beat the throw and tag at home on a fielder’s choice grounder by Annika Asuncion.
“At that point I was really just trying to get on base,” said Molina, who finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs scored. “[The triple] really helped us that and started things off on a positive not for us.”
The Mustangs appeared to get some breathing room in the sixth inning. Obermeyer reached on a two-out single to left. DaPratto made it to first on a Atlantic Tech fielding error. D’Augustino followed with an RBI-single to center, but a base-running mistake ended the inning.
Atlantic Tech, though, was able to get the run back in the bottom of the inning. Samantha Passalequa walked, advanced to second and third on wild pitches and scored on Sophia Phillipou’s grounder to short.
“This was a really big win for us,” Canesi said. “We’ve had some trouble in the field and some trouble hitting a little bit. I have a lot of new freshmen on the team but we’re really getting together now.”
While the Mustangs have had their ups and downs this season, Molina said the Atlantic Tech win was the type of victory that could help turn the Mustangs around as the season winds to a conclusion.
“I think we’ve been having trouble with like communication and stuff like that,” Molina said. “We had one error today but we’ve been getting better at it. And I think the today’s game helped us a lot. I think it will give us like a big confidence boost to push us and work harder throughout the season.”
