Classical softball breezes past English

LYNN – It was a day better suited for hockey than softball at Keaney Park on Wednesday as Lynn Classical and Lynn English renewed their cross-town rivalry.A cold drizzle and gusting winds made any ball in play havoc but the Rams took advantage of six English errors and timely hitting up and down the order to take a 17-4 win that was shortened to five innings because of the mercy rule.Click here for a photo gallery.”We discussed at the beginning of the game that the team who made the fewest mistakes was going to win because of the wind, the cold and the rain,” Classical coach Chris Warren said. “These girls are playing really good right now.”The heart of the Classical order did most of the damage against English starter Tiffany Drown on Wednesday. Hannah Byrne, Chelsey Bartlett and Jennie Erekson combined to score nine times. The Rams as a team had 12 hits.”(Classical) came ready to play,” English coach Alisa Fila said. “They got off to a good start and it’s very hard to come back against a team like that.”The Rams (6-2) got the scoring started right away, taking advantage of three Bulldog errors in the opening inning to grab the lead.Erekson drew a one-out walk and came around on a Byrne triple to dead center. Bartlett followed with a single that upped the lead to 2-0. An error on the play allowed her to take second and another throwing error brought Bartlett around for a 3-0 lead.English fought back in the bottom of the first against Rams starter Jenny Garrity.Val Fiaccaprile reached on an error to begin the inning. Jessica Dellazoppa followed with a walk and Sam Earp reached on an infield single to load the bases for the ever-dangerous Cara Crowley.Garrity got the St. Anselm-bound catcher to fly out to Mackenzie Coppinger in center with Fiaccaprile coming in from third. After a walk and a fielder’s choice, Drown laced a single that scored Earp to make it 3-2 after one.The Rams responded immediately in the second, pushing four more runs across. Angela Erelli and Fallon Gaudet singled and moved up a base on a wild pitch.Erekson’s groundout to short scored Erelli before Byrne drove home Gaudet for a 5-2 lead. Bartlett singled and Garrity struck out in front of Coppinger, who drove home two more runs with a single.Coppinger also came on in relief of Garrity in the second as the wackiness continued.English fought back with a pair of runs as Fiaccaprile singled and later scored on the back end of a double steal with Dellazoppa, who scored on an Earp groundout.Those would be the last runs of the day for the Bulldogs, though, as Coppinger put the clamps on them the rest of the way.”Copp came in and did a great job for us,” Warren said.Classical assumed control for good in the third as Byrne smoked a 3-run homer with two outs to increase the lead to 10-4. Danielle Moran drove in a run in the fourth before the Rams added six runs in the fifth to put things away.”We have to put this behind us and get ready for Danvers (today),” Fila said.