Wednesday Night
Rende Tallies Third Walkoff Hit in Brakettes’ Doubleheader Sweep

July 14 - By Connor Pignatello - Lauren Rende recorded her third walkoff hit of the season and the Stratford Brakettes beat the Pennsylvania Stripes and Strikes in both games of tonight’s doubleheader 3-1 and 1-0.

With one out in the seventh inning of the first game, Lauren Rende broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run blast to left field, her third walkoff of the year and second in five days.

“It’s crazy, honestly,” said Rende. “I feel like it all just has to do with teammates cheering you on. High pressure situations, those always happen but when you get out of them there’s an incredible feeling and having your teammates supporting you is really what it takes.”

For the first three innings, the Brakettes and Stripes and Strikes combined for just three singles and neither side advanced a runner past first base.

But to lead off the fourth inning, Megan Trivelpiece broke the deadlock with a no-doubt home run to right-center field.

Brakettes’ starter Sarah Lawton struck out twelve, including five straight in one stretch in the second and third innings. She only allowed three baserunners.

But for the first six frames, the Brakettes could not provide Lawton with any run support as Mea Consentino silenced Brakette bats. Consentino pitched almost entirely to the outside part of the plate against a righty-heavy Stratford lineup, inducing eight flyouts as well as four popouts, all of which went to second baseman Jersey-Lynn Cook. Not a single Stratford batter grounded out all game.

Rende said her teammates were crucial in helping her make adjustments against Consentino. “Especially Val [Suto] told me to keep my hands high because she was throwing a lot of high balls, so even when I flew out to the right side during this game … walking in the second at bat and just seeing more pitches and teammates reminding me to keep my hands high so I get better contact.”

The Brakettes loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth inning thanks to a pair of walks and a hit by pitch, but Consentino struck out Charlee Horton to end the threat.

The Brakettes entered the final frame with their first seventh inning deficit of the season, but Briana Marcelino did not let that last long. With just the second pitch of her at bat, the second baseman led off the inning by drilling a 1-0 pitch well past the fence in left field to tie the game.

After a Kaitlyn Flood single, Rende stepped into the batter’s box as the Brakette’s late game hero from multiple games this year.

On June 26th against the Maryland Chill, Rende hit game-tying and game-winning home runs to secure a 6-4 victory for the Brakettes in eight innings. Last Saturday, Rende hit a walkoff single in the 9th inning to carry Stratford over the Massachusetts Drifters.

And tonight, Rende sent Consentino’s offering past the fence in left-center to give the Brakettes their 20th victory of the season.

“[High pressure situations] make me nervous, but it really shows who you are as a player if you can get out of those situations.”

In the second game of the doubleheader, strong Stratford pitching led the way again. In her most recent appearance on July 11th, Ali DuBois pitched four perfect innings in relief against the Concord Raiders. Tonight, DuBois one-hit the Stripes and Strikes for the second time this year -- she did it first back on June 12 in pool play at the Cornfield Classic.

After taking six innings to score in the first game, the Brakettes wasted no time getting on the board against the Stripes and Strikes in game two. Val Suto led off the game with a single and Katie Sciglimpaglia reached on an error after centerfielder Gabby Lantier dropped a straightforward fly ball. Briana Marcelino promptly lined a double down the first base line and the Brakettes took a lead they would never relinquish.

After the first three Brakette batters reached base, Stripes and Strikes pitcher Ella Utschig rebounded and only allowed three hits in her following five innings of work. After the first inning, Utschig did not allow a runner past second base.

But she was overshadowed by a dominant one-hit shutout performance from Ali DuBois. The only hit DuBois allowed was a hard groundball that ate up Gillian Birk at first base. In seven innings, she struck out twelve Pennsylvania batters on her way to her seventh win of the year.

Across the two games, Lawton and DuBois’ strong pitching limited the Stripes and Strikes to just 3 hits and four total baserunners.

Last season, the Brakettes went 2-2 in four games against the Stripes and Strikes -- their only losses in a 34-2 season. Since then, the Brakettes have won 39 straight games.

Tomorrow, the teams play a rematch doubleheader. First pitch is at 7 pm.