WINSTED — The Yellowjackets softball team hosted the Thomaston Golden Bears for two games Monday, May 10. The Bears took advantage of an inexperienced Gilbert pitching core to sweep the double-header, 18-1 and 15-6.
Frequent Yellowjacket starting pitcher Jess Shotwell was unable to take her usual spot at the mound due to injury and was instead placed at center field. Gilbert’s pitching has lacked depth since the start of the season, forcing head coach Mark Douglass to relieve veteran Shotwell with inexperienced pitchers.
Despite their shortcomings, Gilbert was able to hold the Bears to just a handful of runs through the first few innings. Unfortunately for the Jackets, their hitting game was unable to outwork Thomaston pitcher Morgan Doyle. The Jackets trailed 2-0 heading into the top of the third.
The Bears continued to build upon their lead, ahead 6-0 by the top of the third, when things really began to slip out from beneath the Jackets. Three consecutive walks loaded the bases for Thomaston’s Jamie Quirke, who did not hesitate to clean up with a grand slam shot that gave her team a commanding 10-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Gilbert picked up their only run of the first game off a solo shot home run by Yellowjacket Jen Fritch, who met her teammates at the plate to celebrate Gilbert’s first sign of offensive life.
That morale boost would be quickly eradicated in an eight-run inning from the Golden Bears at the top of the sixth. The Jackets were unable to add to their total and took a loss in the first game, 18-1.
The Jackets picked up their hitting effort but remained simply outmatched and underpowered in the second game of the afternoon. Thomaston added another win for the day, 15-6.
Thomaston’s Doyle was a force on the mound and at the plate, with two hits in the first game and eight strikeouts and two more hits in the second game. Quirke, evidently unsatisfied with tallying a grand-slam rocket in the first game, added a base-clearing triple in the second.
The Golden Bears improve to 11-3 while the Yellowjackets fall to 1-12.
