Hall hosted East Catholic in West Hartford on Monday afternoon.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

The Hall girls softball team is in a rebuilding era, and after winning just one game over the last two seasons, the Titans are 3-3 so far this season.

“It is a learning experience,” said head coach Chris DeJesus. “In my first year, believing in winning is still growing on us.”

To learn to win, sometimes you have to lose and still find the lessons. On Monday, Hall surrendered five runs in the second and 10 in the fourth in a 20-2 loss to East Catholic. “The biggest takeaway is mental,” DeJesus said of the loss. “It is the approach of letting the little things go so you can focus on the next big thing.”

The Titans actually scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. Lila Fried singled and stole second before coming around to score on Molly Grove’s base hit.

The second inning saw pitcher Danica Carrero – just a freshman – get two of the first three Eagles hitters out, allowing a single in between them. Then she lost the plate, loading the bases on walks before Ciara Flaherty crushed a grand slam over the center field fence to make it 4-1.

Sam Shifrin had a sparkling defensive play in the third when she snagged a line shot just to her left at third. But an error and some walks helped East Catholic add two more runs in the inning.

Amelia Deschaine was dealing on the mound for the Eagles, but a leadoff walk to Shifrin led to the Titans’ second run. She stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and then scored when East’s catcher tried to pick her off third, but the ball went wide of the base into left field and Shifrin beat the throw home.

The wheels came off for Hall in the fourth when East scored seven times off eight hits, and two Hall errors. Lila Brown came in to relieve Carrero after the first four batters reached base, with the final one being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing in the run. By the time the inning ended the score was 17-2 for the visitors.

Hall threatened in their half of the fourth when Talia Santiago led off with an infield single and one out later Sam Martindale walked to put runners on first and second. Deschaine then got a strikeout and a fly ball to right to end the threat.

In the top of the fifth, the first two batters reached base on a walk and an RBI double before Fried made a nice catch in deep centerfield for the first out. One batter later, Bridget Nosal hit the Eagles’ second home run of the game to bring in the final two runs of the inning and the game.

“My team is a good mix of talented, smart, driven young ladies who are learning to come together as one,” said DeJesus. “One of our biggest goals this year is to believe in our ability to win and to believe in us as a team.”

Hall will host Newington on Wednesday, and next week has four games – including away games on Monday (Bristol Eastern), Tuesday (Canton), and Wednesday (Farmington).

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