WATERBURY — The Naugatuck softball team battled Sacred Heart—and fierce wind gusts—at Municipal Stadium on Monday, and came away with a 17-2 win, improving to 13-3 on the season.
Alexa Marucci threw her third no-hitter of the season, striking out eight, even as the Hearts crossed the plate twice on three walks and three errors.
The Hounds offense scored all the runs they needed during a six-run uprising in the first inning. Four Sacred Heart errors helped the Naugatuck cause as Julia Longo, Skye Stella and Liz Hufnagel had RBI hits for the Hounds.
It was a 6-2 lead in the third when Naugatuck struck for three more runs. Melissa Labonte drove in two runs with a double to left, swelling to 9-2. The Greyhounds put it away with a seven-run fourth inning led by an RBI hit from Daniella Stoehrer, run-scoring singles from Stella and Marucci, and a two-run double by Alexis Granahan. Sydney Cotto and Lianne Wallace came around to score, upping the margin to 16-2.
Granahan made it a mercy-rule win as she led off the sixth, crushing a pitch that glanced off the top of the centerfielder’s glove as the senior shortstop made it all the way around the bases for the 17-2 final score.
