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Wilson strikes out 12 as Peabody softball knocks off Danvers

Wednesday, April, 30 By Jean DePlacido
Correspondent

DANVERS | Nicole Wilson delivered a message that should resonate throughout Northeastern Conference circles yesterday: she and her Peabody High teammates are a power to be reckoned with.

The sophomore used an array of pitches to keep Danvers hitters off balance all afternoon, striking out a dozen while scattering just four hits as the Tanners bested the host Falcons, 7-3, at windy Great Oak Field.

"Peabody got great pitching. I can't say enough about their pitcher," said Danvers head coach Tara Petrocelli of Wilson. "She moved the ball well and kept us off balance."

 Wilson had an excellent change-up working and struck out at least one Falcon in every inning, getting six of them on called third strikes and a like number swinging.

"My location was good today," said Wilson. "The change-up was really good, but my fastball, drop, rise ball and screwball worked, too."

The Tanners improved to 7-1 with the win, with their lone loss coming at the hands of Lynn Classical. The offense pounded out 14 hits yesterday, as every starter had at least one against Falcons starting pitcher Diana Bean.

The visitor's only flaw was some shaky defense, with five errors leading to three unearned runs.

"I think the girls were a little tight," said Tanner coach Butch Melanaphy. "We're facing all new opponents this season (Peabody's first in the Northeastern Conference), and the girls know Danvers always has a great team.

"But despite those errors, everything came together. I'm especially happy with the bottom of our order. I told those girls they outhit the top of our order today. We're starting a stretch of very good competition, so this is a big win for us."

Danvers struck in the bottom of the first when leadoff hitter Ashley Burnham's shot to third base was bobbled, and she advanced to third when nobody fielded Jamie Leonard's bunt. Wilson struck out the next two hitters, but Burnham scored on an errant pickoff attempt.

That run stood up until the fourth inning when Peabody was aggressive on the base paths, sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six times.

Michelle Grifoni singled to start things off, stole third, and scored on Sam Terenzoni's single. The big blows were a two-out, two-run single by leadoff batter Amanda Smith and a double down the left field line by Tawny Palmieri that plated two more runs.

"They had that one big inning," said Petrocelli, her team now 5-3. "You can't give a team more than three outs in an inning."

The Tanners tacked on an insurance run in the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Stephanie Fodera. Kenia McKeon, the No. 8 hitter, followed with a single to left field before Bean struck out the next batter to get out of further trouble. She also bore down to work her way out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth.

The Falcons took advantage of two more Peabody errors in the fifth to score a pair of runs. After Joanna Zecha doubled and took third on a throwing error, Burnham worked a walk and immediately caused problems on the basepaths by taking off for second trying to draw a throw to get the run home.

Burnham was subsequently caught in a rundown, but the Peabody first baseman elected to throw to the plate trying to nail Zecha. The throw was off the mark, though, and Burnham hustled over to third. She scored when Leonard's bunt was thrown away. Wilson worked her way out of the jam from there with a strikeout and double play.

Smith and Palmieri each drove in two runs for the hosts while Terenzoni, McKeon and Fodera had one apiece. Smith led the attack with three hits while Fodera and Terenzoni each had two. In addition, Palmieri, Grifoni, Helas, Lauren Tucker, McKeon, Sam Lerner and pinch hitter Estee Yanco all hit safely.