ORANGE — Megan Rich struck out one and forced a groundout with one runner on base in the seventh inning as the Mahar softball team came away with a late-inning, 13-11 victory over Hopkins Academy, Thursday.
“I’ve got a lot of girls starting to hit the ball and that’s what we did,” Mahar coach Jerry Duguay said. “For the first time all year the team is practicing together and starting to come together.”
The Senators (3-3) went up 13-11 in the sixth inning on a two-run home run to center field by Skylar Dodge. The hit scored Jordan Fournier, who reached on an error at shortstop in the previous at-bat.
The Golden Hawks (2-3) tied it at 11 in the sixth by scoring three runs on three hits and one error.
The Senators made it 11-8 in the bottom of the fifth. Fournier singled to start the inning, followed by a Sarah Graeff double. An error allowed Shelby Ponusky to reach base and Graeff to score, while Ponusky later scored an a hit by Lani DeDiego to put Mahar up 11-8.
The Golden Hawks scored six runs in the third to go up 6-4, but the Senators responded with four in the bottom of the third to take an 8-6 lead.
Hopkins tied the game at 8-8 on two singles, an error and a passed ball in the fourth.
Dodge was 4-for-5 with four RBIs, two runs, two doubles and one home run for the Senators. Fournier went 2-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs. Rich went 2-for-4 with one run and Juliana Herbert went 3-for-4 with one run. Freshman Hannah Dupont went 2-for-4 with one run.
“(Dupont) is playing really well defensively at second base too,” said Duguay about Dupont’s overall contributions to the team.