Holy Redeemer softball opens postseason with one-hit shutout

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WILKES-BARRE — Five days after striking out nine and shutting out the Western Wayne bats, Anne Carter managed to one-up herself in her second outing against the Wildcats.

The Holy Redeemer ace struck out 14, walked none and allowed just one hit as the Royals beat Western Wayne 3-0 on Tuesday in the District 2 Class 3A quarterfinals.

The Royals broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with three runs on four base hits and a sacrifice fly, finally hanging a number on the scoreboard after some missed chances early in the day.

The only blemish on Carter’s line was a one-out double in the third inning by Western Wayne’s Trinity Graboske. Carter left her stranded on second with two quick strikeouts, and kept the Wildcats completely off the bases the rest of the way.

“I was really spinning those pitches and I trusted my defense to make plays,” Carter said.

While Carter was doing her part on the hill, the Holy Redeemer offense took a little while to break through against Western Wayne pitcher Adysen Wargo.

The Royals hit the ball consistently, and were helped a few times by some Western Wayne miscues in the field, but through four innings Redeemer remained deadlocked at zero with the Wildcats.

“The baserunning wasn’t very good, we’ll clean that up,” Holy Redeemer coach Jerry Paulukonis said. “I think our heads were out somewhere else today with some of that stuff, but we’ll figure it out.”

In the bottom of the fifth, Holy Redeemer found their groove. Mary Lombardi led off the inning with an infield single, her second of three infield base hits on the day.

Katie Genovese singled up next, and Zoey Pecuch’s base knock into center field scored Lombardi to get the Royals on the board.

It was the third time reaching base for Pecuch, after a walk in the first inning and a double in the third.

“We really just wanted to get our hands on the ball and score some runs,” Pecuch said. “We really did well as a team.”

After Bella Boylan moved the two runners on over to second and third, Abby Williams launched a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Genovese.

An infield single from Kaylee Gryboski brought Pecuch home to score the third and final run of the inning for Holy Redeemer.

Now staked with a lead, Carter showed no signs of slowing down over the last two innings. She set the final six Western Wayne batters down in order on three strikeouts and three fly balls to right field to close out the game and send the Royals on to the semifinal round.

Holy Redeemer will take on Lake-Lehman, the Class 3A second seed, in the 3A district semifinals coming up on Thursday.

District 2 Class 3A Softball Quarterfinals

Holy Redeemer 3, Western Wayne 0

Western Wayne`AB`R`H`BI

Romanowski c`3`0`0`0

Palmer 2b`3`0`0`0

Wargo p`3`0`0`0

Mistishin ss`3`0`0`0

Destefano 1b`2`0`0`0

Carroll cf`2`0`0`0

Ochlan lf`2`0`0`0

Graboske 3b `2`0`1`0

Kidder dp`2`0`0`0

Nunez rf`0`0`0`0

Totals`22`0`1`0

Holy Redeemer`AB`R`H`BI

Genovese c`4`1`2`0

Pecuch 3b`3`1`2`1

Boylan cf`3`0`0`0

Williams ss`2`0`0`1

Gryboski 1b`3`0`2`1

Carter p`3`0`1`0

Hayden rf`3`0`0`0

Stetz-Madden 2b`3`0`0`0

Lombardi lf`3`1`3`0

Totals`27`3`8`3

Western Wayne`000`000`0 — 0

Holy Redeemer`000`030`x — 3

2B — Graboske, Pecuch.

Western Wayne`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Wargo (L)`6`8`3`3`1`3

Holy Redeemer`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Carter (W)`7`1`0`0`0`14