By RUSSELL JONES
The Golden Horde took their undefeated show on the road Monday to play Black River as soggy field conditions forced the game to be moved to St. Peter’s field in Rutland.
The offense for both teams was on display, but it was West Rutland who had the bigger bats and the better pitching as the Horde took the win, 30-16.
The weather at the start of the game was chilly and got colder as the game went on, which effected the pitching, according to coach Laurie Serrani.
“Pitching is so important and it can be difficult to get warmed up when you come in and it’s so cold,” she said.
But the Horde’s potent batting lineup had no trouble warming up, scoring seven runs in the first inning. Hailey Pierce was on the mound for Black River and had a hard time finding the strike zone as she walked four and hit three batters in the first frame.
West Rutland had no trouble early in the game defensively.
“Alyssa Covarubbias started the game for us,” Serrani said. “I thought she did fantastic. She is so good and confident in practice, but in the games she can kind of get nervous on the mound.”
But Covarubbias dominated in this game, and by the third inning the Horde began putting in substitutes, allowing Black River to score a few runs, but by then the game was decided.
Kiana Grabowski came on in relief and also performed well, Serrani said.
The undefeated Horde, now 4-0, will take on the undefeated Proctor girls on Tuesday in Proctor.
Unless something changes in practice, Serrani said she will put Elizabeth Bailey on the mound to start against the Phantoms. West Rutland sometimes struggles against Proctor pitching, but their coach expects things may be different this year.
“The game will come down to hitting,” Serrani said. “A lot of the girls are very confident at the plate right now.”
Proctor has a good defensive team and, according to Serrani, they have some big bats in their lineup.“We’ll just have to go out there and see who has the bigger bats,” she said.
