Hawks look to hit their stride

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Woodland’s Ivy Geloso delivers a pitch April 6 versus Oxford in Beacon Falls. Oxford won the game, 3-2. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI
Woodland’s Ivy Geloso delivers a pitch April 6 versus Oxford in Beacon Falls. Oxford won the game, 3-2. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI

BEACON FALLS — The Woodland softball team is working the kinks out in the early part of the season that has been interrupted more times than not due to weather-related issues. Head coach Loren Luddy is confident that her team will hit its stride sooner rather than later.

“We have yet to gain momentum,” Luddy said. “Once we do we will be just fine. I think a couple of days of practice is all we need.”

Woodland opened the season April 6 on a cold afternoon versus Oxford. The game proved to be a pitcher’s duel between Heather Hassler of Oxford and the Hawks Ivy Geloso. The Wolverines pulled out a 3-2 victory as Hassler spun a three-hitter and struck out seven.

Geloso had six strikeouts of her own, and Woodland got hits from Carla Piccolo, Cam Caswell and Emily Brouillette.

“It was a game we should have won,” Luddy said. “We actually hit the ball pretty well but we had too many long fly balls. The Oxford outfielders were just playing back and if we could have got one in the gaps we could have put a few more runs on the board.”

“We have good power hitters but they played us deep as they should have,” Luddy continued. “I was encouraged that we didn’t strike out that much and we made decent contact. Ivy did well pitching but we did have a couple of defensive miscues. But we really haven’t hit out stride.”

The Hawks showed how dangerous they can be in a 25-7 win over Kennedy April 8. Gina Farina led the way at the plate with four hits, three runs scored and two RBI.

Piccolo had four hits and three runs scored. Caswell added a double and a triple, and scored two runs to pace the Hawks attack.

Maddie Hupprich started in the pitcher’s circle and helped herself out with a home run, a single and two RBI. Jennifer Triana came in and scattered four hits over the final three innings striking out five.

“We are going through a few different pitchers especially early in the season,” Luddy said. “See who is confident and who is ready to go. Ivy entered the season not as a pitcher. But she is very athletic and very talented and decided to give it a shot and has done well. Jen came in and just shut it down against Kennedy. Maddie is an effective pitcher but gave up a couple of big hits and Jen came in and got the job done.”

The Hawks fell, 10-0, to Torrington on Saturday. Ali DuBois threw a three-hitter and struck out six for Torrington in the shutout win. Geloso struck out three and delivered a hit at the plate. Piccolo and Rita Plante also added singles.

“We had some players in different positions and they did a good job,” Luddy said. “Ivy pitched well and Emily is our new catcher so it’s going to take some time for them to develop together.

“The girls are working very hard. In the Torrington game our left and right fielder Carla and Sam White covered an enormous amount of territory. Torrington scored on hits and there were no really big ones.”

The Hawks evened their record on the year at 2-2 with a 21-2 win in five innings over Wilby on Wednesday.

Triana struck out seven with one walk for the Hawks. Steph Krebbs had two hits and three runs scored and Gina Farina added two hits of her own to go along with three RBI and a run scored.

Woodland will look to carry the momentum from the Wilby game forward when they head to Derby on Friday and host Sacred Heart on Monday.