ST. ALBANS – The BFA-St. Albans Comets played their home opener on Saturday, April 25, and made short work of the South Burlington High School Wolves with an impressive 13-1 victory in five innings of play. The Comets had contributions from across the entire roster in the win.
Freshman Irie Shedd took the circle for the Comets for her first varsity start, and dominated the Wolves’ lineup, racking up three strikeouts in the top of the first inning. In the bottom half of the inning, the Comets would jump out to a 4-0 lead.
Nora Tatro singled to right field, and following a walk by Marah McGinn, Jillian Smith would come through with an RBI single to center to give the Comets the 1-0 lead. Shedd beat out an infield single to plate McGinn for the 2-0 lead. Megan Gonyeau would then come through with a 2-run single, scoring Smith and Jenessa Yates for the 4-0 lead at the end of the first.
Shedd worked around a leadoff walk to open the second inning, and mowed down three more Wolves to keep the game 4-0. The Comets once again went to bat, looking to add on.
Chatham Brouillette opened the inning with a blast to center for the 5-0 lead. Tatro would pick up her second hit of the game with a double, and come in to score on the second knock of the game for Jillian Smith to go up 6-0. Smith would come in to score following an error by the Wolves, and Shedd notched her second hit and RBI of the game with a single to right field, as the Comets led 8-0 after two innings.
Shedd continued her dominance in the circle, striking out the side at the top of the third. Isabella Stuart got the offense going in the bottom half of the frame with a base hit to right. Ella O’Grady would work a walk, and McGinn would hit a moonshot to left center for an 11-0 Comets lead. Cecilia Smith singled to center, and was immediately followed by another single to center by Ella Dunigan. Zoe Montagne-Litchfield ripped a double, scoring Smith for the 12-0 lead, marking the third straight inning the Comets tallied four runs.
McGinn would enter the game in the circle in the top of the fourth inning, and the Wolves would finally break through in the hit column, as Natalie Audibert singled. An error would put runners on the corners, and the Wolves would score on a caught stealing throw to second base. The Wolves would put two more runners on, but McGinn would escape any further damage with the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Comets would get a run back thanks to patient at-bats from McGinn and Molly Parah. Cecilia Smith would come through with an RBI base hit to push the lead to 13-1 heading to the fifth inning.
McGinn shut the door on the Wolves’ offense at the top of the fifth, and the Comets celebrated their first home victory of the season.
Comets senior Jillian Smith talked about contributing early to the offensive outburst from the Comets.
“It felt good to get going. We started off a little slow against Essex, so I think just supporting each other, picking each other up, and starting fresh today was huge,” said Smith. “Just seeing the ball and hitting it, adjusting to pitching is something we struggled with, so I’m really proud of the way we all came through and did that, and we put up a lot of hits today.”
She talked about her role as a senior on the team as well, saying, “It’s definitely bittersweet. It’s exciting to move on to bigger things, but it’s sad. This program has been great to me, and I’m really happy to give back to the younger kids. We just finished up a week of Comet Camp, so it’s nice to see the family it brings together, and know you’re leaving a positive impact on not only this team, but in this community.”
Junior Marah McGinn spoke about contributing in the circle and at the plate: “It’s always a good feeling to contribute, and to know that your teammates will always have your back. We were all pretty close. We were all having good hits, and even our outs, we were getting good pieces of the ball. It’s good to know that we’re right there with it, and can contribute to the season.”
Freshman Irie Shedd spoke about her performance in her first varsity start: “It was good. It’s a really nice day out, and the competition was good. My rise ball was good. They were definitely chasing it, but it was working well. I threw my changeup a couple of times, but didn’t have to do that much.”
Comet highlights: Irie Shed picked up her first varsity win, throwing three innings, allowing no hits, one walk, and striking out nine.
Chatham Brouillette and Marah McGinn each had home runs.
Nora Tatro, Megan Gonyeau (3 RBI), Jillian Smith (2 RBI), and Cecilia Smith (her first two varsity hits) each had more than two hits. Zoe Montagne Litchfield also got her first varsity hit with a run-scoring double.