Carmel delivers for Raymond
Maybe there was a plan in place the whole time. Such as, Do what you have to do so Carmel softball coach Jason Raymond could get a decent night’s sleep.
Carmel catcher Amanda Elert did her part with her second grand slam of the season. Leadoff hitter Sam Melillo used her speed to have a 3-hit day. Carmel went 5 innings to stop St. Viator 11-0.
And now Raymond can get back to his family life. His third child will arrive Tuesday morning.
“It’s a scheduled cesarean,’’ Raymond said. “And it will take place at Alexian Brothers.”
With winning pitcher Nicole Bitter scattering 5 hits in 5 innings, the Carmel bats came out to play rather early in this contest.
A 3-run first inning pretty much decided things. The first of Melillo’s slap hits found a hole and the Corsairs (9-4) were in business.
“I had been in a rut,’’ Melillo said. “So to go 3-for-3 feels pretty good. A lot of this is mental. It’s about finding holes in the defense.”
Melillo is just a sophomore and still getting adjusted to her new role.
“She puts a lot of pressure on the defense and sees a lot of pitches,’’ Raymond said.
Amy Abel’s 2-run single and an outfield error helped make it a 3-run frame.
“We have a lot of protection up and down our lineup,’’ Raymond said. “We have that next player who will step up, and that’s a nice luxury to have.”
Leading 5-0 heading to the fourth, one swing of Elert’s bat put this game away. Melillo notched her third slap hit of the game and promptly stole second base. Kathleen Felicelli followed with another hit. St. Viator didn’t
want to mess with slugger Jenny Behan so the Lions gave her a free pass.
Up stepped Elert with the sacks loaded. And there it went over the left field wall.
“It’s exhilarating,’’ Elert said. “It’s also very humbling. My first homer of the season was also a grand slam.”
Those two grand slams have put Elert in the team lead for RBI. It was also her fourth homer of the season.
“It didn’t take us long to put her in the cleanup spot,’’ Raymond said.
Elert felt badly as the next two hitters in the Carmel order were hit by a pitch.
“I felt terrible about that,’’ said Elert, who gave praise to winner Bitter.
“She was hitting her spots,’’ she said. “She did a great job.”
The Lions managed to get a hit in every inning. But it’s been a rough ride so far as St. Viator dropped its 10th game of the season against 3 victories.
“Carmel hit the ball well,’’ St. Viator coach Dan Twarog. “We need to generate more on offense and pitch better in certain situations.”
The Lions had just one runner reach third base. Lauren Prazuch singled sharply opening the fifth inning and moved around to third.
The second homer of the game ended it. Felicelli first hit a shot well foul. She took the next pitch over the left field wall for the 2-run homer that provided the 10-run margin.
Behan reached base all three times and added a single and triple to the Carmel attack.