By Andy States
Digital Sports Content Manager
The Saint Mary’s Ryken Knights jumped out quickly this softball season, winning their first five games in convincing fashion.
But in Tuesday’s contest against visiting Holy Cross, the Knights were sluggish in the early innings. Not that it came as any surprise to Coach Scott Kuhns, who knew that was possible after an off weekend and light practice on Monday. When Holy Cross scored in the third, it stood as the first earned run Ryken has allowed this season, and that was just what the Knights’ senior leaders needed to kick the team into gear.
“The seniors came in and said ‘Let’s go,'” Kuhns said, “and we went.”
The Knights scored five unanswered runs over the final 4 1/2 innings while pitcher Katie Delapaz settled in and faced the minimum over the final three innings in a 7-2 conference win.
“They dug deep and found their inner heart, their fire,” Kuhns said. “It just seems to be a recurring thing with us. They need to continue to find that fire.”
After striking out in order in the first, Ryken (6-0) opened the scoring in its half of the second. Gabby Morgan led off with a walk and came around to score on Karen McEvoy’s extra-base shot to left field, while McEvoy herself came around to score when Holy Cross (3-4) had trouble getting the ball back to the infield.
“The hit in the second inning was a big hit for us,” McEvoy said. “It put us on the board today and really kind of fired the team up.”
But the Tartans answered in the top of the third. Mikaela Antonio’s single drove Danielle Tafuri home. Antonio later scored on a two-out error to know the score at two.
From that point, Delapaz started to take control. The Knights’ hurler faced just one over the minimum over the final four innings — allowing just a two-out single to Therese Renzi in the fourth — and retired the final 10 Tartans to step into the box.
“It took me a while to warm up for the first three innings,” said Delapax, who walked one and struck out eight. “We’re missing a catcher. It’s hard to adjust, but after a while we got it going.”
Ryken took the lead for good when Danielle Nichols’ single drove home Erin Leddy in the bottom of the third. The Knights added a run in the fifth — when Nichols tripled and scored on a McEvoy grounder later in the inning — and tacked on three more in the sixth to put the game away.
Holy Cross pitcher Katie Walsh, who recorded strikeouts for her team’s first six outs of the game, finished the day with 10 strikeouts.
“This is a big win for us,” McEvoy said. “We’ve been doing good on the season so far, but with each game we try to go out there and have as much fire behind us as possible.”
Looming on the horizon for the still-unbeaten Knights is a matchup with Bishop O’Connell next Monday. O’Connell has been the team to beat for years in the WCAC, and next Monday’s game is one the Knights have been looking forward to.
“It’s an interesting conference,” Kuhns said. “I don’t think any team is unbeatable as far as the top five or top six of the league.
“I don’t want to say I’m nervous about it, but I think we’re very equally matched on paper. It will come down to errors, I believe.”
Saint Mary’s Ryken 7, Holy Cross 2
HC 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 – 2 5 4
SM 0 2 1 0 1 3 x – 7 5 1
WP: Delapaz, LP: Walsh
3B — McEvoy (SMR), Nichols (SMR)
astates@digitalsports.com
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