TAUNTON, Mass. – It was senior night at Jack Tripp Field for the 20th City Championship game between Taunton and Coyle and Cassidy, and it was the only senior in Taunton’s starting lineup that delivered the clutch hit.
With a slim 3-2 lead and two outs in the top of the sixth inning, Kelly Reading tripled to the left-center field gap, scoring two runs and propelling the Tigers past the Warriors, 9-3.
“[Reading] is one of our best players, if not our best player,” Taunton coach Dave Lewry said. “That’s what seniors do on big nights, and I’m proud of her and I’m happy for her. I’m happy for all of them.”
Trailing 2-1 in the top of the fifth, Liana Duarte singled, moved to second on a defensive indifference, to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a single by Aimee Kistner. Meghan Navarro then led off the sixth with a double and eventually scored on a groundout by Amber Wainwright.
Taunton added some insurance in the top of the seventh with a four run frame. Kistner reached on an error, Jordan Wade walked and Navarro singled to begin the inning, and a walk to Wainwright forced in a run. Back-to-back singles by Sarah Bagge and Duarte scored two more Tiger runs, while Wainwright scored on a throwing error.
“The kids were a little bit uptight at the beginning of the game,” Lewry said. “It took them a while to get going, but then as we got later in the game, their game started to come. They started swinging the bat real well and we got some big hits. It’s nice to get some hits out of the bottom of the order.”
Kistner went the distance to pick up the win for Taunton, allowing three runs on 10 hits while striking out two.
“Aimee had to battle tonight,” Lewry said. “Not everything was working for her, in fact a lot wasn’t working for her, but she worked hard.”
Taunton had nine runs on 10 hits in the game, but the turning point for the Tiger offense may have been a Warrior error. With two outs in the sixth, Bagge popped one up in the infield, but a miscommunication between defenders allowed Bagge to reach safely. Duarte followed with a single, setting up the two-run triple from Reading.
“Sometimes you have to capitalize on other team’s mistakes,” Lewry said. ”We’ve been able to do that this year. We’ll take them anyway.”
Taunton improves to 13-7 all time in the City Championship and has won the past three meetings. The Tigers, now 18-1 on the season, will travel to face King Philip on Tuesday afternoon in a game that will likely decide the Kelley-Rex division.