LINWOOD – Mainland Regional’s softball team scored a 6-3 victory over Holy Spirit Monday in which the Mustangs’ ace Bella D’Agostino struck out 15 batters in a four-hit effort during its Salute the Troops celebration.
Neither coach Brian Smith nor D’Agostino were happy with the performances.
Mainland improved to 8-6 on the season and 5-2 in the Cape Atlantic League’s National Division. For D’Agostino, the sophomore who is holding down the Mustangs’ No. 1 pitching position for the second consecutive season, it was her fourth time registering double-digit strikeouts in her last five outings.
But Mainland beat Holy Spirit 16-2 in the opener when D’Agostino was sidelined with an injury to start the season. The Spartans kept the Mustang bats silent until the third inning when Mainland scored four runs.
The game, though, never materialized into the lopsided contest it was at the beginning of the season. Smith said part of that was due to Holy Spirit, which seemed to be more locked in than his own team.
“It was an ugly win,” Smith said. “I give Holy Spirit a lot of credit because they came in here and played hard.”
Mainland athletics celebrated military veterans on Monday with a flyover by an Army Black Hawk helicopter and honoring service members visiting not only softball, but the school’s lacrosse match as well.
Sgt. Anthony Rodriguez with the U.S. Army National Guard threw out the first pitch of the softball game as Mainland wore special uniforms honoring the military.
Smith said the special circumstances may have taken the Mustangs a little out of its usual pregame rhythm, but it was not a pass for what he saw as not their best effort.
“That kind of throws your preparation off a bit but we can’t make excuses,” Smith said. “We have too much talent on this team to make excuses. We let them stay in the game and we didn’t take care of business.
“Now, we got a ‘W’ and you always want to celebrate that, but if we have expectations the rest of the season and do some good things in the playoffs, we have to be better. We have to turn it up a notch and we didn’t do that today.”
While D’Agostino registered the big strikeout total, she also had five walks and had to battle back on some batters on three-ball counts to get outs.
“Honestly, I’m not that satisfied with it,” D’Agostino said. “The 15 strikeouts are nice but I was not satisfied with more than two walks. I missed high a lot and that was frustrating because I don’t normally do that. I felt off today which was kind of strange. The performance was OK.”
Things got a little hairy for Mainland in the sixth inning up 5-2. Holy Spirit scored one run on a single and D’Agostino issued two walks in the inning. The Spartans brought the tying run to the plate with one runner in scoring position with two outs before the Mustang hurler gathered herself to strike out the final batter.
With her composure returned, D’Agostino struck out the side in the seventh inning to end the game on a rousing high note.
“I’m used to that situation because I play travel ball a lot, so I’m used to getting myself into situations, which isn’t so great, and getting myself out of it. I had to just take a step back and just breathe.
“I just had to take one pitch at a time and tell myself if I can throw this strike and then another, I can just get out of my own head and focus on what we have to do.”
Mainland’s big third inning came courtesy of Denver Obermeyer’s bases-loaded RBI single that drove in the first run and then Ava Kinkler was hit by a pitch to force in the second run.
Obermeyer said the pregame military festivities actually inspired her.
“Even though we were cutting it a little close here, I think remembering [the military who attended] brought us back together as a team realizing we’re going to need to work together to advance farther in the season,” she said.
“To win close games like this we need to have good sportsmanship and good team energy in the dugout. That’s really important. It really depends on the spirit of the game in how well we play and perform as a team.”
Kylie Higbee drove in what proved to be the game-winner with a two-run single to left, giving Mainland a 4-0 lead after the third inning.
“When you go into the box, you just have to have your mind clear, that’s all,” Higbee said of the big hit. “It’s very important to win close games like that because it shows just how close the team can be. We love each other like a family and that’s what really help us.”
Mainland will face Oakcrest at home Wednesday before taking on rival Ocean City on Friday. The Mustangs won a wild 18-15 game against the Red Raiders earlier this season at Ocean City.
Smith said he will be expecting a better performance out of Mainland the rest of the week, which also includes a tournament.
“We had opportunities to make plays [on Monday] and we didn’t and we had runners on base with an opportunity to score runs and didn’t do it. We had that one big inning where we scored four runs but after that we didn’t do much at all.
“We have too many good hitters and too many experienced players to play down to that level. We need to raise our level and our expectations. We have a big week. We have a Williamstown tournament on Saturday where we play two games.”
What can be done to help Mainland take the next step this season?
“You can appeal to their pride,” Smith said. “You have to want to play better. We have girls who are not in the starting lineup who are dying to play. We have girls who may not be as talented but their desire may be able to overcome that. I said to them we have four games this week and other girls may get opportunities.”
By CLYDE HUGHES/Special to the Sentinel
Thank you, Clyde, for the wonderful article. I enjoyed being in the booth with you.