Junior Varsity Softball vs Rumsey Hall School

Score/Result: 23-17 W

• JV Softball earned their first win of the season against Rumsey Hall on Friday, April 19^th.  In a high scoring team effort, they won the competition 23-17.  After losing their first game, the Rhinos were determined to improve their decisions at bat and make the Rumsey pitchers compete.  They did just that, and combined with strategic base running, the Rhinos took the lead in the first inning earning 10 runs. Rumsey cut Taft's lead down to 3, and showed toughness on the field.  Abby Wang, who pitched the first inning, made a smart play to catcher, Audrey Lam, for a force at home when there were no outs.  Rumsey would score another run in the second inning compared to Taft's two making the game 12-8 going into the third inning. 
• Taft displayed patience and intelligence at bat during the third inning earning a total of 10 runs.  Lead-off hitter, Alexa Colangelo, went 3/4 and hit 4 RBIs.  Agnes Wong was aggressive at bat and went 2/3 and hit 1 RBI.  Cassie Willson went 2/4 at home plate, including an RBI.  Willson would also earn 3 strikeouts on the mound while pitching the last 6 innings. Caroline Blatz, Abby Woods, and Liana Hickey contributed to the hits, earning one each.  Both teams were resilient in an uneventful fourth inning with the score totaling 22-11.  A Rumsey pitching change proved to be challenging as Taft's offense suffered, making defense the key to this win.  In the fifth inning, Willson, grabbed a line drive off the bat with no outs and quickly threw the ball to Blatz at first base for Taft's first double play.  Taft held Rumsey to no runs in the fifth.  The second double play of the season came from Woods in the sixth inning.  With one out and bases loaded, Woods snatched a line drive towards left field that would have cleared the bases and stepped on third base catching the lead runner off guard ending the inning.  Neither team scored a run in the sixth inning.  Taft couldn't bring home a runner at the top of the seventh, and with the score being 23-11, they were 3 outs away from their first win.  Rumsey did not back away from the challenge and scored 6 runs at the bottom of the seventh.  A combination of Taft errors and Rumsey's great hitting made the last inning exciting.  With two outs, and a runner on second, Rumsey knew they'd have to exhibit aggressive base running.  When a ground ball to Wong at shortstop was hit with force, the runner on second took her chances and advanced to third.  Seeing the play develop, Wong threw to Woods at third base instead of getting the hitter out at first base.  Perfectly timed, Woods caught the pass and tagged the runner ending the game. 
• Taft will embark on their third game this week Saturday against Westminster at 2:30 PM.