Malden softball squeaks by Classical

LYNN – It felt very much like a state tournament game on Friday at Breed’s Grace Rogato Field as unbeaten Classical hosted a Malden squad that came in at 12-1 and boasted one of the top pitchers in Division 1 in junior Kiara Amos and an explosive offense.Click here for a photo gallery of Friday’s gameIn a nip-and-tuck battle, it was Amos and the Golden Tornadoes who were able to scratch across single runs in the fifth and seventh innings against Mackenzie Coppinger as the Rams lost for the first time in 2011, 2-0, on a 2-hitter from Amos.”Malden is a very, very good team,” Classical coach Chris Warren said. “We knew coming in that this was going to be a 1-0 game either way and it wound up 2-0.”Coppinger pitched well on Friday against a lineup that boasted seven batters with batting averages over .400 as she held Malden (13-1) to six hits but Amos was just a little bit better in hurling her sixth shutout of the season and improving on her 0.35 ERA.”That was the best softball game I’ve seen all year,” Malden coach John Furlong said. “Classical is really well coached and are very tough. We were able to get a couple of timely hits and that was the difference.”Both teams struggled to find chances to score as the Rams (13-1) managed only three base runners all day. Malden, meanwhile, spread its six hits over four different innings and saw rallies in the second and third killed by the Classical defense.”We made some mistakes and didn’t adjust in the box at times,” Warren said. “You need to adjust on every pitch against a good pitcher like (Amos).”The first serious threat by either team to score came in the fifth after Coppinger had retired the first two Malden batters.Francesca Richardson got the rally started when she slapped a single to right with two strikes. She moved up on a passed ball before No. 9 batter Ashley Powers drew a walk.Shortstop Rebecca Krigman then deposited a single up the right-center gap to bring Richardson around for a 1-0 Malden lead. And with the way Amos was throwing, the gulf seemed like much more than that.After Jennie Erekson singled with two outs in the second, Classical would not put another runner on base until Danielle Moran reached on an error with two out in the sixth.”Thank God Kiara is only a junior,” Furlong joked. “The one big thing (Friday) was that the girls behind her who haven’t had a chance to make plays at times were able to make the ones we needed to win.”The Golden Tornadoes would add an insurance run in the seventh despite a near Keystone Cops routine on the bases.Coppinger hit Jessalyne Brown to lead off the inning. Hannah Calderone followed with a single before Richardson sacrificed the runners to third.Powers then attempted a safety squeeze that was bobbled and dropped, resulting in mass chaos on the basepaths and two runners at third for a moment. In the confusion, Brown was able to slip home ahead of Hannah Byrne’s throw for the 2-0 lead.”We made a mental mistake there,” Warren said. “And when you’re playing good teams and you make a mistake, they’re going to beat you.”Classical would get the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the inning, but Amos got Erekson to chase a pitch out of the strike zone to end the game.