Swampscott softball scores King sized win

SWAMPSCOTT ? To borrow a line from an old Mel Brooks movie: It’s good to be King.Swampscott High sophomore Christina King drove in six runs with three hits, including a pair of home runs, to lead the Big Blue past Winthrop, 9-6, Friday, at Forest Avenue Fields.King singled home a pair of runs in the first inning, lined a 3-run homer over the fence in left field in the third, and then capped off her day with a booming solo shot to left-center to lead off the fifth.”She had a big day,” Swampscott coach Frank Kowalski said. “The single in the first inning gave us the lead, and the big shot was her home run in the third, which put us back into the lead after we fell behind.”King had some company at the dish for the Big Blue (1-2). Tori Thistle drove in a pair of runs with three hits, including a pair of doubles, and scored twice, while Sammy Rizzo scored all three times she reached base.Danielle Mayblyum picked up the win in relief by allowing three runs over the final four innings, coming in for Rizzo, who went three innings and allowed three runs. Taylor Thomas took the loss for Winthrop (1-1).”We made some mistakes, mental and physical, early in the game that cost us,” Winthrop coach Dave Guffey said. “But they (Swampscott) hit the ball hard. They were a good-hitting team last year, so we expected them to hit the ball well today.”Offensively for Winthrop, Maura Lanza, Kelly Swanson and Thomas each had a pair of hits, and Jenn Adamson drove in a pair of runs with a double in the sixth. The Vikings brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the seventh, but Mayblyum struck out the last two batters of the game. Winthrop ended up stranding nine runners.King’s 2-run, 2-out single drove in Rizzo and Thistle in the bottom of the first, but Winthrop answered in the second with a pair of runs on back-to-back doubles by Lanza and Christine Haskel, the latter of whom scored later in the inning on a double by Swanson.The Vikings briefly took the lead on a controversial play that ended the top of the third inning. Maddy Fign’na walked and went to second on a 1-out single by Lanza. Haskel followed with a fly to deep center, which allowed Fign’na to advance to third. Lanza got hung up between first and second, though, and was tagged out returning to first just as Fign’na made it to the plate. Kowalski argued that Lanza had been tagged out first, but the run stood up and Winthrop went on top, 3-2.The Vikings’ lead didn’t last long, though. After Rizzo reached on an error to begin the bottom of the third, Thistle laced a double to left to tie the game. After Mayblyum reached on a fielder’s choice, King blasted her first home run over the fence to make the score 6-3.The teams traded one run each in the fourth, with pinch-runner Alexis Joyce scoring on a single by Michelle Lasala for Winthrop, and back-to-back doubles from Rizzo and Thistle for the Big Blue. After King’s long homer started the bottom of the fifth, Swampscott tacked on another run when Emma Faulkner’s groundout brought in Victoria Himaras, who had doubled.Adamson’s 2-out double to left in the sixth brought in Ali Sacrfo, who had walked, and Lasala, who reached on an error, to make the score 9-6.