TAUNTON, Mass. – Taunton freshman Kya Enos returned from injury to drive in three runs in an 8-0 win over Weymouth on Friday night. A day later, Enos doubled and later scored the eventual winning run in a 4-3 quarterfinal win over Whitman-Hanson.
“That’s the second game in a row that she’s gotten a big hit for us,” Taunton head coach Dave Lewry said. “Unfortunately I got the runner thrown out at the plate. But she turned out to be the winning run.”
A potential go-ahead run was gunned down at the plate on the double by Enos in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Amber Wainwright drove in the eventual game-winner with a sacrifice fly to right field, two pitches after an unsuccessful squeeze bunt attempt. The RBI was Wainwright’s eighth in the past six games.
“Great piece of hitting by Amber Wainwright,” Lewry said. “She missed the suicide, had two strikes on her and hit a deep fly ball to right field to easily score the run. That’s a great piece of hitting there. That’s why she’s in the lineup. She has a way of coming through and driving in runs. She’s a nice seven-hitter, a good hitter to have hiding in that seven-hole
Whitman-Hanson jumped out to a quick lead in the first inning as Emily Cook led off with a single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Keighla McAloney. Taunton came right back in the bottom half to tie the score as Jaime Brown singled to left, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a base hit by Aimee Kistner.
The Panthers took the lead right back in the top of the second when Kristin Arthur led off with a walk and was knocked in by Ally Webster.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the third, Brown started the offense again for the Tigers with another opposite field single. Kistner was then hit with a pitch and both runners moved into scoring position on a sacrifice fly by Jordan Wade. Meghan Navarro then drove in two runs with a base hit up the middle.
Kistner, the Taunton starter, settled in during the middle innings, retiring nine of 10 batters and starting an inning-ending double play in the fifth. She went the distance to earn the win, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out four.
“She was up with all of her pitches in the first couple of innings, but she worked at getting the ball down and was finally able to do it,” Lewry said. “Her pitches, they started working the last four innings or so. Not as sharp as last night, but back to back nights are tough. She’s a gamer, she hung in there and did what she had to do.”
Whitman-Hanson once again rebounded in the top of the sixth inning as Arthur singled home Maxine Vincent, who led off the inning with a double to left field, for the tying run. Wainwright's sac fly put Taunton back up in the bottom half.
Taunton advances to the D1 South semifinals and will play the winner of #1 Hopkinton and #9 Notre Dame Academy on Thursday at 7:00 at Jack Tripp Field. Notre Dame defeated Taunton 6-2 in the first round in 2014.