SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS: On a beautiful 73-degree night in Springfield, Boston got the band back together with the return of their skipper, Jemile Weeks, fresh from serving a one-game suspension, and some Indianapolis Clowns teammates of Mo’ne Davis dropped by to cheer for one of their own.
Kate Blunt got the start for the New Englanders, and LA’s Ayuri Shimano made her mound debut after two impressive performances in the field.
To be blunt right off the bat (pun intended), Beantown pitching was their best yet – and the rest of their game cranked up some serious notches. Not much Achilles’ heel here. A combined seven innings of six-hit ball, two earned runs, four free passes that didn’t hurt their cause, and a pair of K’s.
Shimano, shaky in the top of the first, settled in and was matching her counterpart almost frame for frame – nursing a one-hitter heading into the top of the fifth.
Tied at two, the righty unraveled. Molly Paddison, mired in a 2-18 slump, broke out with a single, landing on second after the ball eluded Ashton Lansdell’s right-field glove. Two batters later, Ticara Geldenhuis turned on an inside pitch for a two-run shot, and two at bats after that, Lexi Hastings, a star UConn softball player, who hadn’t played hardball until last summer, put an additional pair on the board for her first WPBL home run – knocking the Queens starter off the rubber.
Maïka Dumais, sporting two earned runs on the season, relieved Blunt in the 6th and gave up nothing significant to write about. And for the first time in the Women’s Pro Baseball League, we had co-Players of the Game in Geldenhuis and Hastings.
In closing, a shoutout to Jamie Mackay, making a run in the home run race with her fifth – a close second to the duo of Denae Benites and Kelsie Whitmore, who lead the league with eight a piece.
Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the defensive play of the game: Mo’ne Davis’ highlight-reel catch at the wall, resulting in an inning-ending double play.