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GEORGETOWN, DEL. —
Sussex Central and Caravel softball renewed their annual rivalry on the diamond and gave fans another classic showing between the powerhouse programs.
Unfortunately there could only be one winner in what was a pitchers’ duel between Lady Knights senior Kristen Cooper and Bucs sophomore Carolyn Szymanski. Thursday at Central it was the Caravel windmiller who earned that victory, 1-0.
“She’s one of the toughest we’ve faced,” Central head coach John Wells said of Szymanski. “But, we’ve got a pretty good pitcher in Coop too, and she did all she could to help us win.”
The Knights had that chance too, or at least one to tie in the bottom half of the seventh frame when senior catcher Whitney Brittingham drilled a one-out single to center. Junior Taylor Murphy, nursing a foot injury, came on run for Brittingham and, as Knights cleanup hitter Cyndie Givens pushed a grounder by the right side of the Caravel defense and was not fielded cleanly in right field, was waved around the bases only to be cut down at the dish.
“I thought the ball was going to go farther by them in right, and [Murphy] made a good turn around second so I sent her home,” Wells said of the decision to try to score. “It was my call, and you only get so many chances to score runs against a pitcher like the one we were facing. I’d send her again, because it had to be a perfect throw and this time it was.”
Cooper, who pitched out of trouble in the opening frame when Caravel’s first two batters reached, allowed her only run in the top of the third on a RBI single by Bucs senior Arielle Bragg.
Despite the loss, Wells was happy with the effort his club made against Caravel and said it needed to stay focused on its final two games of the season in order to earn at least one, if not two home postseason games.
“Nothing but positives. We had five or six hits against [Szymanski], which is more than anybody else, I think,” Wells said of his team’s effort. “We just weren’t able to manufacture a run today.
“Now we have to be ready for Smyrna and Padua, who won’t be any easier.”
Sussex Central and Caravel softball renewed their annual rivalry on the diamond and gave fans another classic showing between the powerhouse programs.
Unfortunately there could only be one winner in what was a pitchers’ duel between Lady Knights senior Kristen Cooper and Bucs sophomore Carolyn Szymanski. Thursday at Central it was the Caravel windmiller who earned that victory, 1-0.
“She’s one of the toughest we’ve faced,” Central head coach John Wells said of Szymanski. “But, we’ve got a pretty good pitcher in Coop too, and she did all she could to help us win.”
The Knights had that chance too, or at least one to tie in the bottom half of the seventh frame when senior catcher Whitney Brittingham drilled a one-out single to center. Junior Taylor Murphy, nursing a foot injury, came on run for Brittingham and, as Knights cleanup hitter Cyndie Givens pushed a grounder by the right side of the Caravel defense and was not fielded cleanly in right field, was waved around the bases only to be cut down at the dish.
“I thought the ball was going to go farther by them in right, and [Murphy] made a good turn around second so I sent her home,” Wells said of the decision to try to score. “It was my call, and you only get so many chances to score runs against a pitcher like the one we were facing. I’d send her again, because it had to be a perfect throw and this time it was.”
Cooper, who pitched out of trouble in the opening frame when Caravel’s first two batters reached, allowed her only run in the top of the third on a RBI single by Bucs senior Arielle Bragg.
Despite the loss, Wells was happy with the effort his club made against Caravel and said it needed to stay focused on its final two games of the season in order to earn at least one, if not two home postseason games.
“Nothing but positives. We had five or six hits against [Szymanski], which is more than anybody else, I think,” Wells said of his team’s effort. “We just weren’t able to manufacture a run today.
“Now we have to be ready for Smyrna and Padua, who won’t be any easier.”
