Carlmont’s win streak is snapped

This year, the Scots (12-1 overall) opened the season with 12 straight wins, though that streak was snapped Thursday at Carlmont suffered a grueling 3-2 non-league loss to St. Francis.

St. Francis (10-3) broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning after Carlmont starting pitcher Mailey McLemore registered one of her nine strikeouts. However, with one out and the wicked third-strike changeup diving into the dirt, Scots catcher Kate Berce had to throw to first base to get the out. With the throw, St. Francis junior Andrea Delfino dashed home to score the go-ahead run.

“They’re known for their quickness on the bases,” McLemore said. “So, we just need to be prepared for that next time.”

McLemore took a hard-luck loss despite setting down 14 of the last 15 batters she faced. Delfino was the only outlier, scorching a single back through the middle to start the sixth. St. Francis manufactured the game-winning run from there. Delfino stole second on the very next pitch, then moved to third on a groundout to the left side of the infield — fundamentally not a play on which a base runner should advance, but the aggressive Lancers were keen to take the extra base every chance they got.

“One of the things I try to get the girls to do is to not be satisfied with just getting to the next base,” Lancers head coach Mike Oakland said, “but wanting to get to the base after and have that aggressive mindset. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. They had it better today.”

Delfino’s swipe of home on the strikeout play was another gutsy move by St. Francis, and another of several little mistakes by Carlmont that added up. The Scots also saw two of their own base runners get hung out to dry in rundowns in the late innings.

With the game still tied in the bottom of the fifth, Carlmont leadoff hitter Ashley Trierweieler scorched a liner at a St. Francis outfielder that got dropped, allowing the speedy junior to reach first on an error. Samantha Chu followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Trierweieler to second.

On the following play, though, Tayler Wise hit a grounder to shortstop Hannah Damore, but Damore astutely faked a throw to first and caught Trierweieler too far off the bag at second, and St. Francis ran her down for the second out of the inning.

In the sixth, Carlmont junior Logan Bonetti got hit by a pitch to open the frame. The Scots pinch ran for Bonetti, and looked to be in business when Amanda Kondo bunted and reached first base on an error. Damore backed up the play to shine again though, chasing down the ball in foul territory and, as the Carlmont runner turned too wide around second, fired to the bag to induce another rundown out.

All-in-all, Carlmont saw seven base runners reach scoring position in the final six innings with nothing to show for it.

“What I told the girls after the game is, if we do make a base running mistake, if we’re being aggressive, I can deal with it,” Giuliacci said. “Just, making a mental base-running mistake, and not being aggressive. …”

He added: “They were both more towards the aggression.”

Of the latter of the two rundowns, though, Giuliacci said: “It probably wasn’t the right time to be aggressive.”

The beneficiary of the glut of miscues was St. Francis starting pitcher Jordan Schuring, who danced through trouble all day long but continued to take the sting out of the Carlmont bats. That’s quite an accomplishment seeing as the Scots entered the game hitting .363 as a team.

“I think she spun it pretty good,” Oakland said. “Mixed her pitches up with locations up and down, in and out. She kept them off balance. And we were fortunate enough to be able to put [McLemore] on base a couple times (via intentional walk) without pitching to her.”

McLemore’s only official at-bat came in the first inning. St. Francis opened the game with two unearned runs in the top of the first, without ever getting the ball out of the infield. But the Scots tied it in the bottom of the frame when McLemore drove home Trierweieler on an RBI groundout, and Eimear Cunningham did the same to drive home Chu.

In each of McLemore’s final two plate appearances, she came up with a runner on and first base open. So, the Lancers bypassed the senior hitting .552 with five home runs and 24 RBIs.

“She’s their best hitter,” Oakland said. “She’s one of the best hitters in the section, if not the best. So, I kind of went into the game with the mindset: We can’t let her beat us if we don’t have to.”

Said McLemore: “I’m not used to it this year because I had (now-graduated power hitter) Cameron Kondo in front of me last year, so I was the one who they wanted to pitch to instead of her. It’s frustrating but I have a lot of faith in my teammates knowing they can come and pick me up. Today just wasn’t the day. But we know we’ll get them back next time.”

Obviously, Carlmont is still in a position of power in its quest to return to the CCS Open Division playoffs this year. In 2017, the Scots reached the Open Division semifinals as the No. 1 seed but were upset by eventual champion Mitty.

“The team’s a super strong team,” Giuliacci said. “They can go as far as they want to go. And I’ve told them that. It’s up to them.”