Sunday at Micki Stratton Round Robin
Brakettes Beat Rogue 14-1, Sweep Round Robin

July 18 - By Connor Pignatello - Briana Marcelino drove in six runs and the Stratford Brakettes beat the Connecticut Rogue 14-1 in their last of four games at the Micki Stratton Round Robin. Stratford totalled a season-high 20 hits.

The first six batters in the Brakettes lineup all had multi-hit games. Katie Sciglimpaglia and Briana Marcelino tallied three hits each and Rebecca Johnson went 4-4.

Stratford starter Sam Schiebe allowed just two hits and struck out eleven -- a career high in her brief Brakettes tenure.

The Brakettes jumped on Rogue starting pitcher Janaya Young immediately, scoring four times in the first inning. Briana Marcelino, Lauren Rende, and Emma Larke all drove in runs. In the fourth inning, the Brakettes broke the game open thanks to a three-run home run by Briana Marcelino, who drove in at least a run in all four of her plate appearances.

“I was thinking of staying back more -- I think it was a changeup,” said Marcelino of her home run. “I usually am not the greatest at hitting low pitches but I was able to extend through that one nicely and get ahold of it.

Stratford kept the rally going in the fifth. At one point, five straight hitters reached base as the Brakettes added six more runs.

To lead off the bottom of the fifth, Connecticut catcher Kenny Saunders spoiled Sam Schiebe’s one-hit shutout with a solo home run. It was the first and only run the Brakettes allowed in their four weekend games.

The Brakettes play next in the Caroline Farley tournament in Concord, New Hampshire on August 24.

Rende Grand Slam Leads Brakettes to 11-0 Win

July 18 - By Connor Pignatello - Lauren Rende hit a grand slam and the Brakettes scored seven runs in the fifth inning to beat the Connecticut Eliminators 18+ squad 11-0 on the second day of the Micki Stratton Round Robin.

In her first appearance since pitching a five-inning no-hitter against the Select Brakettes last night, Ali DuBois recorded her ninth win of the year. The Boston University pitcher threw five shutout innings on just three singles. She retired the final ten batters she faced and struck out eight.

In the first three innings against Eliminators starter Kate Lipsky, Stratford scattered five singles and scored three runs, two of them off wild pitches.

To start the fourth inning, the Eliminators replaced Lipsky with Lani Jackson-Sherman. Jackson-Sherman challenged the Brakettes’ timing by throwing almost all changeups.

With one out in the fourth, Stratford third baseman Katie Sciglimpaglia whiffed completely on a Jackson-Sherman changeup. But on the next pitch, Sciglimpaglia adjusted and crushed the pitch past the fence in left field for her fifth home run of the season and second in as many nights.

To start the fifth, six straight Brakettes reached base and three scored, loading the bases for Lauren Rende. On the first pitch of her at bat, Rende jumped on a Jackson-Sherman changeup and drove it over the left field fence for a grand slam, her fifth home run of the year.

“Our coach said that because I was too anxious getting up into the box just thinking if I could hit it before it drops in I would be able to get on top of it,” said Rende. “But even with the slow speed [I was] just staying back in the box and waiting on it because you never knew if she was going to throw a ball or it was going to be in the dirt or something like that because it was arcing.”

The game was called after five innings because of run rule.

The Brakettes play their fourth and final game of the Micki Stratton Round Robin at 3 p.m. versus the Connecticut Rogue.