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![Greenwich senior Sophia Prieto bats against visiting Brien McMahon during an FCIAC matchup on Monday. Prieto was the winning pitcher for Greenwich, which posted a 10-3 victory. Photo: David Fierro / Hearst Connecticut Media / Connecticut Post]()
Greenwich senior Sophia Prieto bats against visiting Brien McMahon during an FCIAC matchup on Monday. Prieto was the winning pitcher for Greenwich, which posted a 10-3 victory.
Photo: David Fierro / Hearst Connecticut MediaGreenwich senior Sophia Prieto bats against visiting Brien McMahon during an FCIAC matchup on Monday. Prieto was the winning pitcher for Greenwich, which posted a 10-3 victory.
Greenwich senior Sophia Prieto bats against visiting Brien McMahon during an FCIAC matchup on Monday. Prieto was the winning pitcher for Greenwich, which posted a 10-3 victory.
Greenwich senior Sophia Prieto bats against visiting Brien McMahon during an FCIAC matchup on Monday. Prieto was the winning pitcher for Greenwich, which posted a 10-3 victory.
GREENWICH — McMahon became the latest team that had trouble holding the Greenwich softball team’s vaunted lineup in check.
The Cardinals have scored 56 runs over their first four games, 10 of which were tallied against the Senators on Monday.
With each player contributing offensively and Sophia Prieto producing another stellar pitching performance, Greenwich raised its record to 3-1 on the young season, defeating visiting McMahon, 10-3.
Sophomore catcher Olivia McClammy hit a two-run home run and drove in four runs, senior shortstop Emma Beinsten went 4 for 4 with an RBI, senior infielder Kelly Brogan had two hits and Prieto had a pair of hits to pace the Cardinals offensively.
“We did a nice job hitting today; 1-9 did a nice job,” GHS coach Mary Beth Fratello said. “We got the clutch hits we needed and I thought we did a great job offensively today. We are not going to face a weak team, no weak links in the FCIAC, so we have to come out, compete and battle like we did today.”
Prieto (3-1), a right-hander, struck out five batters in a complete-game effort to earn the win against an improving Senators squad.
“Their pitching was a lot better and their hitting was as well,” Prieto said of McMahon. “I pitched against them the past three years and I had a harder time against them this year than any other year. I got in some jams, but I think I did pretty well getting out of them.”
Sophomore Aliza Perez hit a pair of singles and senior pitcher Aidan Bowman had a base hit and walked for McMahon, which scored a run apiece in the second, third and fourth innings.
“I thought our at-bats were really good,” McMahon coach Ron Ventura said. “I thought the girls were picking out the pitches they liked. We stayed in hitting counts and I liked our aggressiveness.”
After Brogan scored Greenwich’s first run in the opening inning on a wild pitch, Prieto delivered an RBI single and senior outfielder Charli Faugno drove home a run with a ground ball, giving the home team a 3-0 lead. Sophomore Mara Chumpitaz hit a run-scoring single in the second inning, cutting Greenwich’s advantage to 3-1, but the Cardinals tallied three more times in the bottom half of the inning.
McClammy followed singles by Brogan and Kayla Darling with a double to the left-field fence, bringing Brogan home. Senior outfielder Julie Gambino hit a sacrifice fly later in the inning, making it 6-1.
A sacrifice fly by Bowman and a run-scoring single from Perez brought the visitors to within 6-3, but GHS broke the game open with one run in the fourth inning and three more in the sixth.
Kate Walko, a senior outfielder, knocked in a run in the fourth inning with a single off Bowman and McClammy smashed a two-run home run over the left-field fence, giving the Cards a 9-3 edge.
“It was great, I saw the ball and I destroyed it,” McClammy said of her home run. “It was nice to get that home run, definitely the whole team did great. It was great, we all worked hard the past week and we knew to come in intense and hit the ball.”
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
McClammy drove in four runs with a home run and a double. She went 3 for 4 with three runs scored. Beinstein got on base each time she stepped to the plate with four singles and Prieto was solid once again, on the mound.
“Sophia did a great job, she was hitting her spots,” McClammy said. “She did really well with her drop curve.”
QUOTABLE
“We’ve been on a pretty steady roll so far, the Brookfield loss (13-12 defeat) kind of made us wake up a little bit and since then, we’ve played good defense,” Brogan said. “We have a lot of seniors on our team and we feel like we can come out on top.”
Said Fratello: “I like the way we are hitting and defense is going to be the key for us this year. “We have to play mistake-free softball like we did today.”