Article #2 Is In The Books

My first article is much better than this one, but I'll attribute that to the fact that the first game was a much better game to cover with a better storyline. Here it is:

You can't win them all, or so the saying goes.

On a steamy Sunday afternoon, Mercy defeated West Haven 1-0 to win the 2011 SCC softball title and claim its elusive first win of the year against a team that had already beaten it twice.

Blue Devils ace Camdyn Morgillo dominated the Tigers' lineup from top to bottom, only surrendering three hits while striking out five. Yet a costly throwing error by the sophomore starter in the top of the fourth inning allowed Christie Idiong to reach second base after the ball trickled past first baseman Cindy Johnson following a bunt. A sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly later, the only run of the game scored.

The Blue Devils hitters were unable to pick up their pitcher, as they only recorded three hits of their own against Tigers starter Haylle Reidy. They had their opportunities, though, twice stranding runners in scoring position with less than two outs. Even after Morgillo escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first inning, West Haven was not able to capitalize.

"It's really tough to beat the same team three times in a row," West Haven coach Frank Biondi said. "You just don't do that. Hitting with people on base has been our problem all year; we lost five games because we couldn't score."

Exiting the stadium that bears his name in honor of his three decades of coaching softball at West Haven, Biondi said that the loss could potentially be a good thing. After all, his Blue Devils square off against Mercy again on Tuesday in the first round of the CIAC state tournament.

"Hopefully, losing to them will take some pressure off the girls. I've had teams that were undefeated and the pressure was so enormous, the games stopped being fun," Biondi said.

West Haven came into the SCC tournament as the fourth seed, while Mercy was seeded sixth.


They changed my article around a little bit, but around 90% of that is still me