Mistakes costs Rosary in home opener

Rosary played its home opener Tuesday against Oswego East under first-year coach Megan Tracey only to see some of its old woes strike again at the most inopportune times.

The Royals jumped out to a 4-0 lead but weren't able to make it hold up. Six errors allowed several Oswego East innings to last longer than they should have, and the Wolves made the Royals pay with a 13-9 victory.

"It's our defense for sure," Tracey said. "It's the small things we have to do. We have to communicate more where the play is going. Stop making unnecessary throws. It's easy things fixed and we'll practice tomorrow and work on things."

All those long innings meant more at-bats for the top three hitters in Oswego East's lineup, and Rosary (0-3) had no answer for Kaelan O'Reilly, Emily Schultz and Rachel Vander Wagen.

The trio combined to go 11 for 14 with a double, 2 home runs, 8 runs and 7 RBI.

"It was nice to see the girls' bats come alive," Oswego East coach Laura Nussie said. "Everybody kind of had a nice day at the plate."

Oswego East (1-1) did its damage against sophomore starter Sarah Willman and junior Emma Molenhouse, who entered in the fifth inning.

Rosary's top returning pitcher, senior Elayne Young, is sidelined with a shoulder injury.

"Our pitchers just need to be tough right now," Tracey said. "We're hoping to get Elayne back. That will take our team to the next level."

Both teams put up crooked numbers early. After Willman escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first with a strikeout and a shoestring catch in left field by Alexis Thomas, the teams scored at least 2 runs in their next 4 trips to the plate.

Rosary started the fireworks with a 4-run first. Natalya Flowers, Anna VanGundy and Molenhouse all singled to load the bases with no outs.

Willman helped herself with an RBI single between short and third. Ries McCue made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly before the Wolves dropped a popup that scored two more.

That was 1 of 9 errors and 2 of 10 unearned runs the teams combined for.

After the Wolves pulled within 4-3 in the second, Rosary scored two more in its half. Flowers and VanGundy again started the rally with singles, and Willman again came up with another big hit, a 2-run single for a 6-3 lead.

"Sarah did such a good job today," Tracey said.

Oswego East capitalized on 3 infield errors to score 5 unearned runs in the third and take the lead for good, 8-6.

Willman's third straight RBI single cut the Wolves' lead to 8-7, but Oswego East came out swinging in the fifth with a double, a triple and Vander Wagen's home run to go up 11-7 and chase Willman.

While Oswego East finished with 18 hits, the Royals swung the bats well too with 11.

"We have the offense," Tracey said. "We can hit any pitching. We put the ball in play. It's just our defense we have to clean up."

Willman led the way for Rosary going 3-for-4 with 4 RBI. Flowers, VanGundy and Thomas all had 2 hits.

"We swing at good pitches," Tracey said. "Very rarely do we swing at pitches out of the zone. The kids are smart. They hit for power, we had a couple bunts for hits, you have to have the power game but you have to have the small game too. I think we showed that today."

Rosary will try for its first win Thursday when it hosts Sandwich.