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Sports

Rockville High School Softball Team Beats Plainville on Opening Day

Graf homers as Rams prevail , 7-3.

The Rockville High School softball team began its season with a 7-3 win over visiting Plainville on Wednesday afternoon. 

Big hits from Brianna Levick and Elisa Graf along with stellar pitching from starter Courtney Oliva and Kaitlyn Lajoie helped seal the win for the Rams.

Elisa Graf hit a two-run home run in the first inning that gave the Rams a 3-0 lead after Sarah Carpenter had opened the scoring with an RBI single. 

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But Plainville came back and threatened to get the score close when it had the bases loaded and only one out in the top of the fourth.  After the Rams allowed a run off of an error, Lajoie struck out the next two batters to get the final two outs.  Oliva started the game for the Rams and struck out two batters while also allowing two runs.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Rams opened the game up and grabbed a comfortable lead.  With bases loaded and one out, Levick driove two runs in with a single to make the lead 7-3.  Lajoie finished the game with striking out the last batter to get the Rams their first win of the season.

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Season outlook: The Rams went 17-4 last year with a team that included three seniors.  Coach Frank Levick said that for this year, the team has a lot of young players that will have to learn quickly.  But with excellent team chemistry, the Rams are expected to contend for the conference championship.

“This team really gels together,” said Coach Levick. “Give everything (we) have on and off the field and there will be no regrets.”

The Rams will have competition for the conference championship with Rocky Hill being the team to beat while Tolland and RHAM are also ready to make a statement, Levick said.

The Rams are lead by seniors Brianna Levick and junior Elisa Graf .  Graf hit .350 last year and was solid at third base.  Levick was an all-state selection her junior year while also being a three-time all conference selection.  Megan Gardiner, Sara Carpenter, Courtney Oliva, Kaitlyn Lajoie, Emily Burg, Michelle Correia and Jackie Ose will all be key contributors this season for the Rams.

The Rams try to feed off of their opening season win with an away game against Waterford at 3:45 p.m. on Friday.

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