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Senior pitcher Lexi Thompson displays the form that garnered her career-high 19 strikeouts against Killingly last week. Photo by Marc Allard.
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Freshman pinch-runner Campbell Favreau slides under the tag of Killingly third baseman Hannah Cozza in the Centaurs’ 12-1 victory last week. Photo by Marc Allard.
Really rocky.
That’s how Woodstock senior softball pitcher Lexi Thompson described the beginning of her effort in the circle against Killingly last week.
It ended in much better fashion.
Thompson finished with a career-high 19 strikeouts and allowed just one hit in a 12-1 victory for the Centaurs over their nearest rivals.
“(Woodstock Academy catcher) Maddie (Martinez) and I were just humming it in there. I love pitching to her. We have a chemistry. I don’t know how to explain it but she is somebody that I trust. She calls the pitches and I trust her more than anyone I know,” Thompson said.
Thompson struck out two in the first inning and then went on a tear.
She retired the last hitter in the first swinging, struck out the side in the second and third innings, got two strikeouts each in the fourth and fifth and then struck out the side again in the sixth and seventh innings.
“That’s definitely her high (for strikeouts in a game). Two years ago, as a sophomore, she had 18 in a game. She got it done (Tuesday). She was rolling and she was feeling good,” said coach Jason Gerum.
But it took just a moment to get that motor started.
Thompson walked the leadoff hitter, Jayden Durand, struck out the next hitter, and then Hannah Cozza delivered an RBI double to left.
“I wasn’t really feeling my pitches at all. There was one pitch that I could honestly throw for a strike and I was like ‘OK, that’s the way it will be (Tuesday).’ But we turned it around, we started to hit and it turned out OK,” Thompson said.
It was not unexpected.
“She takes a long time to warm up in warmups and then she, generally, takes a little time to warmup into the game, that’s very normal. Most of the stuff we give up in games is usually early when she is getting warmed up but once she is on all cylinders, if she is on, she’s on,” Gerum said.
Thompson took care of the early deficit by herself. She jacked a long fly ball to center that easily cleared the fence. It was her sixth home run of the season.
She has driven in 23 runs for the Centaurs this season.
“I’m loving it. I’m feeling it. We’re spending a lot of time on batting practice. (Monday) we did an hour and a half off the machine and we can’t go until everyone is finished,” Thompson said.
An oddity for Thompson.
She also added a single against Killingly.
“That was just her second single (of the season),” Gerum said with a laugh. “Now, it’s like seeing if we can get some singles because she has so many extra-base hits this year. Another bomb, her sixth in 11 games, we will take that.”
Thompson also had five doubles coming into the game.
Her team backed her up in the third inning when it scored eight runs.
Martinez had the big blow with a two-run double while Ainsley Morse added an RBI single and Mia Pannone knocked in a run with a groundout. The Centaurs also benefited from a pair of Killingly errors which resulted in four Woodstock runs.
Martinez added a home run of her own; a frozen rope that just cleared the left field fence height-wise but would have kept going for a long time if a stone wall had not got in its way.
“We always notice kids like Lexi who is really crushing the ball but we have a lot of hitters who have a lot of singles and doubles and Maddie has a lot of key hits in big games. She drives the ball, line-drive doubles, and got one to go out (Tuesday). I’m happy for her,” Gerum said.
The win improved the Centaurs’ record to 4-0 in Division II of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
The Centaurs did see their eight-game win streak end in an 11-4 loss to Fitch on Friday.
Woodstock is now 9-3 overall.
The Centaurs spotted Fitch a 2-0 lead but quickly rebounded to take a 4-2 advantage in the bottom of the first inning.
Avery Collin had a two-run single and both Pannone and Delaney Anderson added run-scoring singles in the rally.
Unfortunately, the Falcons scored five times in the second inning, three times in the third and once in the fourth to claim the victory.
Martinez finished with three hits in the loss. Sarah McArthur, Pannone, Thompson and Collin all had two hits each.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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