Chariho softball's Jeannenot continues to stun in her debut season as Chargers eye playoffs

RICHMOND — Adriana Jeannenot’s smashing debut season was a bit of a surprise.

She didn’t expect to play right away for Chariho softball, but opportunity called and she turned her freshman year in the circle into a playoff race for the Chargers.

The first-year pitcher and first baseman boasts a come-and-get-it fastball that most hitters never see. And she can still paint the corners while controlling the velocity. And her plate approach looks like that of a senior, not a rookie.

Jeannenot cracked a two-run home run to center and pitched three innings in relief as Chariho (10-8) topped East Providence, 12-2, in six innings on Monday afternoon. The win has the Chargers tied with East Greenwich for sixth in Division I.

Chariho qualified for the playoffs, but with East Greenwich (10-7) and Cumberland (9-7) yet to finish their seasons, where the Chargers fall in the seedings remains uncertain. But when the playoffs begin, Chariho will go with the righty in the circle. The Chargers’ ace has a 2.18 ERA over 119 innings with 217 strikeouts and just 27 walks.

“My goals were to help the team as a whole and build myself,” Jeannenot said of her first year. “Especially going into high school, it’s a big mentality difference. You're facing older girls, so I took this year as a building year, especially coming in as a freshman, and didn't expect to play. But it was a great opportunity to get in and pitch.”

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Jeannenot’s first-inning homer came on the second pitch of the at-bat as she faked a bunt to open the sequence. With that advanced approach the young two-way star already possesses, Jeannenot saw the first-pitch rotation, right down to the laces, and sent the next chance over the fence for the game’s first runs.

“Got a good chunk out of that one,” Jeannenot said. “But I went to fake bunt the first pitch and saw the screw. I saw the next pitch and just connected with it.”

Jeannenot entered the circle in the top of the third and retired the first two batters in order, but walked the next batter on five pitches. An error to the right side got the Townies runners on the corners with two outs and Jeannenot surrendered a single to left for EP’s first run.

But the freshman finished the inning with a strikeout and fanned the side in order in the fourth. And to finish her relief effort, she struck out the first two in the fifth frame and ended the appearance forcing an infield pop-up.

“I think it's just the fact that when she gets into the box, she has a plan,” Chariho coach Mike Conklin said. “It’s the same way when she's in the circle. Both sides of the ball, she 100 percent has a goal of what she wants to do. Whether it's racking up strikeouts, and really controlling the batter, or when she's in the box, just knowing that the closer I get to a walk or a strike, it's still the same approach."

Earlier this season, Jeannenot limited the state’s top team, La Salle, to just four runs while fanning 10 with one walk. The Chargers lost, 4-1, but Jeannenot’s complete-game effort held the Rams to their lowest run total of the season. The mark held for nearly the entire spring before La Salle managed just three runs against Moses Brown last Saturday.

“She was pretty dominant in the middle school level,” Conklin said. “She's definitely gotten a lot of control for pitches and she's gotten a better understanding of when to throw those pitches.”

The Chargers are filled with a strong freshman core that locked up the program’s first winning season since 2019. Madeline Dorgan bats lead-off, roams center field, and went 2-for-4 with two runs scored on Monday. And Kaelyn Comerford commanded a corner outfield spot on Monday and managed three hits with an RBI.

“We have a great group of girls, we all work together so well,” Jeannenot said. “It's a great opportunity to be here.”

“They want to win and they all come in 110 percent,” Conklin said of the freshmen. “They realized that at any point the spot could be replaced by somebody else, so the freshmen core is really going to be a great future for this team.”

jrousseau@providencejournal.com

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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Chariho softball's Jeannenot continues to stun in her debut season as Chargers eye playoffs