Burlington shakes off slow start, downs Hampshire

The Monday after prom always has coaches wondering how their team will play.

It took Burlington Central's softball team a little while to remember they were wearing softball uniforms and not prom dresses, but once the Rockets did, they rolled.

Emily Bell and winning pitcher Jet Kein each went 4-for-4 and Kein tossed a 4-hitter as Burlington Central downed Hampshire 12-2 in a Big Northern East game on Rocket Hill that ended on the slaughter rule in the bottom of the sixth.

"We just had to get it going after the weekend," said Kein, who had 2 RBI with her bat and struck out eight while walking five from the circle. "I just had to trust my defense and they did a great job."

Hampshire (4-13, 0-4) struck first, scoring 2 runs in the top of the first inning. Mary Bruscato doubled and scored on a wild pitch and Grace Jakubowski, who had singled, scored when the Rockets (7-6, 4-2) got her in a rundown between third and home but botched one of the relay throws.

But from that point, the Whip-Purs got just two more hits, a second-inning single from Rebecca Vodraska and a sixth-inning single from Jill Peterson.

"My screwball was working really good today," Kein said. "The wind helped it a lot."

The Rockets tied the game in the bottom of the first when Bell's triple drove in courtesy runner Molly Harrison and then Bell scored on a passed ball. BC then took the lead for good in the third, scoring 4 runs with the aid of 5 hits and two of Hampshire's 6 errors in the game. Gruner and Kein each had RBI in the inning. Bell's second triple of the game drove in Harrison with one of BC's runs in the fourth, Ashley Scheffler (3-for-4) scored on a passed ball in the fifth, Kein doubled in the Rockets' 11th run in the sixth and Jackie Parenti scored the game-ending run on Hampshire's final error.

"We got off to a good start and put the ball in play," said Hampshire coach Ken Bram. "But give them credit. They made the plays and we didn't. We made too many errors."

Central finished with 12 hits as it prepares for Thursday's showdown with Marengo, a game BC must win if it is to stay in the hunt for its sixth straight conference title.

"We had three days off for prom and we were coming off a tough loss to Harvard last week, so we started a little slow," said BC acting head coach Lowell Oranger of Monday's win. "But they did an excellent job once they got going and Jet pitched a great game."

Freshman Jennifer Hurst suffered the loss for the Whip-Purs, pitching for the first time in 10 days while resting a sore elbow.

"Jen's just back from resting her elbow for over a week and she didn't have her velocity today," Bram said.