PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Winthrop’s Taylor Thomas winds up for a pitch in the middle innings for Agganis South.
By SCOT COOPER
LYNN — Swampscott High outfielder Christina King finished up her high school softball career with a big bang, leading the South to a 5-3 win over the North in the 20th Annual Agganis Softball Classic. King had two’s across the board: two hits, two RBI and two runs scored, earning the MVP for the South squad Sunday afternoon at Fraser Field.
Essex Tech’s Kaylyn Countie breezed through the top of the first for the North, but ran into trouble in the top of the second, when King’s Big Blue teammate Olivia Cooke reached on an infield single to start the inning.
Peabody’s Paige Hayward sacrificed Cooke to second and her Tanner teammate, Ashley Jenkins, moved Cooke over to third with a groundout. King came up and smashed a shot right down the leftfield line that scored Cooke with the first run of the game. King said she wasn’t thinking homer until she hit second base.
“I just looked up when I got to second and the ball was still rolling, so I went for it,” King said. “It was exciting, I didn’t think it had enough to be a homer until I got to second base.”
The South got three scoreless innings on the mound from St. Mary’s Michaela Hamill, who left up by a pair on King’s smash. The North team got to Winthrop’s Taylor Thomas to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth.
Beverly’s Alexandra Cabral and Andover’s Tori Roche came around on wild pitches, and the North took a 3-2 lead when Newburyport’s Stephanie Gleason tripled home Pentucket’s Courtney Zimmerman.
King was in the middle of things in the top of the sixth when the South scored three runs to pull ahead for good. King banged a double to center and came around on a clutch single by Saugus’ Mikayla Niles with two outs that tied the game at three.
The South kept rolling when Lynn Classical’s Kaitlin Marcinko came home on a base hit by Medford’s Renee Staude. Niles raced home on a wild pitch for an insurance run, and a 5-3 lead.
The scoring was over for the North team with its three runs in the fourth. North Reading’s Carly Swartz was solid on the bump in the fifth and the sixth, and Hamill came back on to close it down in the seventh for the South. Swartz picked up the W, and Hamill whiffed the final two batters with two aboard for the save.
King said the final softball game of her high school career was a memorable one.
“It was a lot of fun. It was my last game, I’m playing field hockey at Stonehill, and was it really was a great ending,” King said.
Swampscott’s Gary Moran, the South coach, said he was pleased to see King have a great day.
“She was great at the plate, couple of good plays in the outfield, lot of fun here today,” Moran said.
The North coach, Jacqui Waters from Amesbury, said it was great to be at Fraser Field with so many great players.
“I’m from Lynn, I went to St. Mary’s, my husband went to Lynn English, I’m a Lynn girl, to be here with all these great players, coaching in my hometown, it was fantastic,” Waters said.
Newburyport’s Stephanie Gleason, who will be playing for Westfield State, was named the North MVP.
“It’s an honor to be here with so many great players, and a big thrill to be the MVP,” Gleason said.
