ST. ALBANS – The BFA-St. Albans Comets hosted the Colchester Lakers in a D1 varsity softball showdown on Tuesday, April 28, at the Collins-Perley Sports Complex.
The Comets showed off their power in a convincing 8-3 win
Chatham Brouillette got things going quickly, homering on the first pitch in the bottom of the first inning. Nora Tatro and Khloe Carpenter followed up with blasts of their own, propelling the Comets to a 3-0 lead.
Jillian Smith would blast a 2-run shot later in the game, and Brouillette would add her second homer of the game to put the Comets up 8-0.
The Lakers would rally late, but it proved to be not enough as Megan Gonyeau closed out the game in the circle for the Comets. Brouillette paced the offense, going 3 for 4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI. Gonyeau earned the win, surrendering 3 runs while allowing 7 hits and only 1 walk. She struck out 7 batters in the victory.
Brouillette talked about her day at the plate, saying, “I love hitting home runs. Honestly, it’s the best feeling in the world. I worked hard on my swing this winter, and it just feels good to have some hard work pay off.”
She also talked about some strong defensive plays made on the day: “Coach works us hard in practice, so definitely a lot of credit to him. Grounders, pop flies, he does it all, so that’s all him.”
Coach Bert Berthiaume talked about the challenges of playing the Lakers, saying, “Colchester’s a really good team. A really good hitting team and a really good defensive team. We had to bring our A-game today to win this one, and credit to both teams. They put the bat on the ball and put pressure on the defense.”
On the opening homerun from Brouillette, Berthiaume said, “It’s a nice thing to get started when your leadoff batter hits the first pitch over the fence to start the day. Of course, we didn’t stop there. Up and down the order, we had big hits from everybody today, which is important.”
On Colchester’s late rally, Berthiaume said, “They’re a very good hitting team. There are no easy outs on that team. They battled and battled. Megan had to really bring her A-game today.
On the upcoming game against the Franklin County rival MVU Thunderbirds, coach Berthiaume said, “They’ve got a crafty little pitcher in Addison Gates, and they’ve got some talent. Lillianna Fournier is awesome, and they’ve got some other young kids coming up, so we’ll have to play well.”