The Third Was a Charm for Rockville

Rockville High School scored four runs in the third inning en route to handing   Tolland a 7-1 softball defeat on Wednesday at home. 

Elissa Graf had a three-run home run in the inning.

Both coaches talked about how the third inning really opened the game up. It has been close until that point, and Tolland coach Tom Drury his team played well despite the third inning.

“We played well but Rockville got to our pitchers in the third inning,” Drury said. “We were a little sloppy, we gave them a run, but Rockville is a solid team.”

Rockville coach Frank Levick said the Rams displayed good hitting in the third.

“We played well and got great hitting from our batters,” said Levick. “There are still a lot of things we got to work on though.  We are a young team but the season has come along now far enough where I need the girls to start playing with more aggressiveness on defense.  I need them to start diving around on defense and really getting after it to make the plays we need to get outs.”

Speedster Ashley Clawson was the main antagonist for Tolland. Rockville could not keep Clawson off base on bunt singles even with the Ram infield playing extremely tight to the plate. That's when the defense Levick spoke of clamped down.

“It’s an interesting story with Ashley because she is right-handed even though she is batting lefty right now,” Drury said. “She got hurt before the season so right now she can only bat lefty but with her speed she is still able to get on base. She is definitely one of the speedsters I have on this team.”

Rockville pitcher Kaitlyn Lajoie got the win for the Rams.  The Rams have only allowed one run in the past three games.  Alex D’Aloisio started for the Eagles.

Tolland scored its lone run when Jess Olson drove in Alison Whitlock.

Tolland (4-4) will next play at Bloomfield on Friday at 3:45.  Rockville (6-3) will next play RHAM at home on Friday at 3:45.