East perfect in beating Canada
By Darin J. McCann
Editor

At home, Canadian pitcher Sabrina Phillips is there to assist catcher, Brittany Thorne as she struggles with the ball while East's Kirstyn Tracey scores. Below, East's pitcher, Elysa Parrilla, lets one fly. Photos by RUSLANA LAMBERT

East pitchers Elysa Parrilla and Aubrey Latham combined for five innings of perfect pitching as the team from Pawcatuck, Conn., prevented the Canadian team from Windsor, Ontario from ever reaching base. On the flip side, the East team used patience at the plate to draw walks and timely hitting to knock in runs and wrap up a game that was shortened to five innings because of the 10-run rule.

The East team wasted little time grabbing a lead. Lathan led off the game with a bloop single to right off Canada pitcher Sabrina Phillips. Arielle Cooper and Parilla followed with walks off Phillips, and a wild pitch to Parilla brought Lathan home with the game’s first run. Emily Borden drew another walk off Phillips to load the bases and Haley Rolfe followed with a single to right to knock in Cooper.

Brittany Walter singled to left to drive in Parilla, and a double by Amanda Banker knocked in two more as the East jumped out to a 5-0 lead with no outs for the team from Connecticut. Hayden Riley drove in two more runs with a one-out single to give the East team a 7-0 lead before Canada ever came to the plate.

Parilla put down the Canada line-up in order in the first inning, striking out Brittany Thorne to end the inning.

Phillips seemed to regain her composure and control after the tough first inning, blanking Canada in the second and getting the first two batters out in the third. A foul ball off the bat of Kirstyn Tracey banged off the mask of home plate umpire Wilbur Jenkins, stopping the game so Jenkins could clear his head.

Perhaps that break in the action shook Phillips, as she walked the next four hitters before hitting Parillo with a pitch, to see the score jump to 9-0 for the East team. Borden then knocked in two more runs with a single to right to boost the East’s lead to 11-0 and finish the scoring for the night.

Parilla struck out Andjela Andrich, Jennifer Gage and Rita Shamo in order in the bottom of the third before giving way to Latham, who pitched two perfect innings, notching a strikeout along the way, to close out the game.