Lady Huguenots Trounce Mount Vernon 11-5

In softball as in baseball, it’s the little things like preparation and fundamentals that seem to always win ballgames a,nd on Friday, the New Rochelle High School Lady Huguenots proved they had both as the team chalked up another victory beating the Lady Knights of Mount Vernon 11-5.

The victory was a result of a solid effort from the entire team and Head Coach Tim Collins could not be more pleased with the effort his team gave him and his staff so far this season.

“This is really a special group of hardworking girls,” Collins said.

With the team finishing 12-7 last season only to lose in the first round of the playoffs, the players were hungry for another shot to prove themselves in the division, and while victories like this one feel good, their coach knows there is still work to be done.

"We have a tough week ahead, and with the second half of the year here, the first half should be in the rearview mirror," Collins told his team just after they put the finishing touches on what was a solid victory against a much improved Mount Vernon softball team who found themselves jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Huguenot pitcher Jamie Zakalik would eventually settle down, striking out 10 batters during the afternoon and seemed to only get stronger as the game went on.

“I did not warm up as much as I would have liked, so I was a little shaky in the first few innings but felt myself finding a groove toward the third inning,” said the talented Zakalik, who did an especially creative job of mixing up pitches and using her change up effectively to keep Mount Vernon hitters on their toes.

In the bottom of the first inning after finding themselves in a 3-0 hole, New Rochelle responded with two runs of their own, made courtesy of a lined shot by Kelly Dillon that drove in a run and a passed ball that scored another.

The third inning saw Mount Vernon tack on another run to make the score 4-2 but that would be short-lived. In the bottom of the inning, Dillon got her second hit of the day giving New Rochelle second and third with nobody out.

Ashley Mauro drove a ball into center field driving in a run and then first baseman Alesandra Greco lined a game tying single to center. Then, Colleen Moriarty drove in the go ahead run with a rocket to center, making it 5-4 at the end of three innings.

Even the Huguenot ace helped her own cause with a single to center in the fourth to extend the New Rochelle lead, and the ladies never looked back, tacking on five more runs, enroute to an 11-5 victory.

“We came back after the first inning, we ran the bases well and did what we had to do to get the victory,” said Collins, after the game.

Zakalik retired the side on strikeouts in the sixth inning, showing little sign of fatigue and a fastball that actually gained velocity as the game wore on.

When asked if she ever gets sore, she simply shrugged her shoulders and joked, “I sometimes get callouses on my pitching fingers!”