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Brakettes Edge St. Louis Saints in Women's Major Tune-Up
 August 3 - Megan Good led the Stratford Brakettes to a 2-0 win over the St. Louis Saints Tuesday night at DeLuca Hall of Fame Field, striking out 11, while also providing all the offense she would need. Good gave up just three hits in the contest and broke a scoreless tie in the third inning with her solo shot to left field.
The annual pre-WMS Tuesday night matchup between friendly foes lived up to the hype, as it did the last two years. The first game in last year's doubleheader featured the Brakettes erasing a five-run deficit in the sixth, eventually winning 7-6 in eight innings. St. Louis captured the nightcap back in 2014, as the Saints won 5-3 in come-from-behind fashion.
The four-time national runner-ups again gave the Brakettes a great game, as St. Louis starting pitcher Madi Norman struck out five and limited Stratford to four hits.
The Brakettes' largest crowd of the 2016 campaign cheered loudly when Good's blast cleared the home run fence with one out in the third. Val Suto followed with a walk and scored on an opposite-field triple by Denise Denis, giving the Brakettes a 2-0 lead that would stand the rest of the way.
Stratford stranded nine baserunners, including five in scoring position. The Brakettes had at least one runner on base in every inning, but Norman found big outs when she needed them.
Unfortunately for the Saints, Good was just that much better. Two of the hits she surrendered were infield safeties, while she hurled four 1-2-3 innings. Only once did Good allow two runners on at the same time, but was able to thwart the Saints' potential third-inning rally with another strikeout.
The defense was solid on both sides, as neither team committed an error. Both second baseman Tatum Buckley and right fielder Denis left their feet to make sensational catches in the sixth inning, helping to keep the Saints at bay.
The Brakettes finished the regular season with a 46-2 record and will enter the 8th Annual Women's Major Softball National Championship (Thursday, August 4 - Sunday, August 7) as the prohibitive favorites to repeat as champs.
The Saints took the late game of Tuesday night's twinbill with a 6-0 decision over the Connecticut Seahawks, as Sarah Finck picked up the win for St. Louis. She struck out seven and also had two hits, driving in four runs. Katie Koshes notched 10 strikeouts in a losing effort for the Seahawks.
Sammi Bunch had two hits, including a triple, and an RBI for St. Louis. Alexa Holland picked up two hits and scored twice.
Pool play will begin Thursday for all teams at the WMS, with the Brakettes playing at 6:30 pm against the 2015 runner-up New York City Havoc, and at 8:00 against the Dutchess (NY) Debs. The Saints will face the Lyons (PA) Spirit at 2:45 on Thursday afternoon in their first tourney game. The Seahawks kick off the annual classic with the 1:00 start against Team Connecticut.
All tournament games from the 2016 WMS National Championship will be played at Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field in Stratford, CT, and will be live video webcast at brakettes.com.
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Tuesday night, August 2nd
vs. St. Louis Saints |
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| STL SAINTS |
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| BRAKETTES |
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Batteries: Saints- Madi Norman (L) and Olivia Denslow; Brakettes- Megan Good (W, 5-0) and Hannah Cooper
Homerun: Megan Good (1) |
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