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Brakettes Take Pair in WMS Pool Play
 Aug 3 - Denise Denis passed ASA National Hall of Famer Pat Dufficy on the Brakettes' career doubles list, as the Stratford Brakettes charged to a duo of run-rule victories in pool play at the Tenth Annual Women's Major Softball National Championship on Thursday night in Stratford.
Denis' fourth-inning double (photo) in an 11-1 win over the New York City Havoc gave her 149 in her 13-year career with the Stratford Brakettes. Only Joan Joyce (153), another ASA National Hall of Famer, stands ahead of Denis for two-base hits in the Brakettes' record book.
Brandice Balschmiter picked up the win in the Brakettes' second pool play contest, fanning four batters in four innings. She allowed just two singles to move her record to 11-2 on the season. Her combined record over 12 seasons with the Stratford Brakettes stands at 190-16. Balschmiter will be retiring following the completion of this year's WMS Championship.
Talcik improved to 13-0 on the season with the win in first game, striking out 10 in a six-inning, three-hit performance.
Nicole Mengel started for the Havoc and held the Brakettes' bats at bay until the top of the third, when Stratford cracked the scoreboard.
Denis got the Brakettes going with a leadoff walk in the third inning. A groundout by Jolie Duffner pushed Denis to second. Alex Heinen then delivered an RBI single to plate Denis for a 1-0 Stratford edge.
Megan Hodgdon earned a base on balls with one out in the fourth and Britt Lampert came on as the courtesy runner. Lampert moved up a bag on a walk by Theresa Kane. Denis followed and came through with her historic double, scoring Lampert for a 2-0 margin.
The Brakettes broke the game open in the fifth with six runs, as Heinen led off with a single. Briana Marcelino came up and blasted a two-run shot to make it 4-0.
Gabby Laccona singled with one out and reached second on a passed ball. With two away, Val Suto singled to bring home Laccona for a 5-0 lead. Kane also reached base on a single, before Denis came up again with two on.
Denis launched her tenth dinger of the season, and 128th in her illustrious career, to push the advantage to 8-0.
New York City finally got on the board in the home fifth, when Gabby DeLeon walked with one out. Erica Molinaro sacrificed DeLeon over to put a runner in scoring position. Danielle Basciano delivered a single to right, and DeLeon raced home when the ball was bobbled in right.
The score stood at 8-1 after five, but the Brakettes were not done yet.
Marcelino singled with one out in the sixth, but was forced out at second on a grounder by Lauren Pitney. Laccona singled to put two on, and a passed ball put two in scoring position. Hodgdon walked to load the bases, and was again run for by Lampert. A wild pitch sent Pitney across for a 9-1 score and moved everyone up a base. Laccona scored on a fielder's choice grounder by Val Suto to push the lead to 10-1, and Lampert raced home on another wild pitch to close out the scoring at 11-1.
Talcik gave up a single, but retired the side in the home sixth on three groundouts to secure the mercy rule decision.
The Brakettes jumped up on the Patriettes quickly in their second pool play matchup, scoring four runs in the home first.
Val Suto led off with a bunt single and stole second base. She moved up a bag as Kane also reached on a bunt single. A passed ball pushed both runners into scoring position, and a sac fly to center by Denis brought Suto in for the early 1-0 lead.
Duffner followed and drew a walk, and Heinen delivered a base hit to score Kane to push the margin to 2-0.With two outs, Pitney drilled a double to score two more, giving Stratford a 4-0 lead.
Sam Rodriguez helped to add to the lead in the second, when she led off with a single. Gretchen Bunovsky came on as her courtesy runner and advanced on another bunt single by Suto. Bunovsky reached third on the play as the throw to first sailed wide. With one out, Denis grounded out to third, but sent Bunovsky home for a 5-0 score in the process.
Heinen doubled to start the third for Stratford, and quickly came home on a one-out double by Pitney. The tally stretched the lead to 6-0 after three innings.
The Patriettes made it interesting in the top of the fourth, when Libby Sugg led off with a walk. Sugg moved up on a passed ball, and another bag on a wild pitch. With two outs, Jordan Fortel worked a walk and stole second. With two in scoring position, Haley Welker ripped a single to left to bring home two runs, cutting the deficit to 6-2.
Suto kicked off another rally in the bottom of the fourth with a walk, and went to second on a single by Kane. Suto and Kane both advanced on a wild pitch, and two more wild pitches brought both home for an 8-2 margin. Denis earned a walk and stole second, and then went to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Heinen doubled to center to drive in Denis for a 9-2 tally.
Marcelino followed and drilled a base hit to left, sending Heinen in from second for a 10-2 score. Pitney contributed a single, her third hit of the contest, to push Marcelino to second. Laccona then singled to right-center, plating Marcelino for an 11-2 score.
Rodriguez reached on an infield single, which moved Pitney to third. Needing one run to close it out in run-rule fashion, Suto reached on a fielder's choice grounder, scoring Pitney to end the game at 12-2.
The Brakettes won Pool C with their two wins on the night. They will return to action in the Winner's Bracket quarterfinals and will face the XTreme Chaos (CT) at 7:00 pm on Friday at DeLuca Field in Stratford, CT.
All 2018 WMS tournament games at DeLuca Hall of Fame Field will be live video webcast at www.brakettes.com.
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WMS Tournament
Pool Play 8:00 PM, Aug 2 |
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| Batteries: Patriettes- Jordan Fortel (L), Laura Rau (4), Emily Akalaitis (4) and Libby Sugg; Anna Akalaitis (4); Brakettes- Brandice Balschmiter (W, 11-2) and Sam Rodriguez |
WMS Tournament
Pool Play 6:30 PM, Aug 2 |
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Batteries: Brakettes- Kaysee Talcik (W, 13-0) and Megan Hodgdon; Havoc- Nicole Mengel (L), Nicolette Trapani (5), Alyson Chiaramonte (5) and Nikki Cuccio
Homerun: Brakettes- Briana Marcelino (4), Denise Denis (10) |
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