Moorestown pulls together to win, 3-0

Lauren Pfister liked what she saw in her Moorestown teammates yesterday.

Pfister, who held an inexperienced team together with her pitching last season, observed her supporting cast overcome opening-day jitters to defeat visiting Cinnaminson, 3-0, in a Burlington County League softball game.

"Everyone has improved, and it is showing," said Pfister, a senior who didn't strike out many but kept hitters off-balance throughout the game. "I feel more confident."

The Quakers battled through intermittent showers until late in the game, when they got to a tough pitcher who wasn't even scheduled to start for the Pirates.

Catherine Anne Dennen in the circle held it all together for Cinnaminson until Lea Giosa, Sam Booth, Megan Hogan, and Sam Bennett got to her in the fifth and sixth innings, and that decided the interdivisional game.

Dennen, a junior, replaced Heather Porrini, the designated No. 1 pitcher, after the sophomore came down with an illness. Porrini is questionable for today's game at New Egypt.

Giosa, the Quakers' top hitter last year with a .357 batting average, put them on the scoreboard with a fifth-inning double to left field that scored Charlotte Fife for a 1-0 lead.

Until that run, Dennen had scattered four hits against Moorestown batters, who looked tentative at the plate but grew more confident as the game wore on.

The most confident was Hogan, who went 3 for 3, including an RBI double that scored pinch-runner Samantha Garcia for the Quakers' second run in the sixth inning.

Garcia was running for Booth, who started the inning with a double. And when Sam Bennett singled in Hogan, the Quakers had a 3-0 lead and all the runs they'd need for the win.

"I hit all fastballs," Hogan said. "We were all hesitant [at the plate] at first. But when we started getting hits, we started driving the ball."

Cinnaminson coach Shelly Garbe said she never thought about relieving Dennen in the sixth, even though Liana Newton, a centerfielder with a strong arm, was available.

"I was still really confident with her on the mound," Garbe said about Dennen. "I didn't want anything to take away from that. We had some opportunities early in the game that we let slide by, and we learned from it."

The Pirates' best opportunity to score emerged in the top of the second inning when Tina McGugan singled, Val Miller singled, and both advanced on an error.

Catcher Dana Sleeper tagged McGugan out when the second baseman tried to come home on an infield sacrifice by Kristin Hanraty.

"It was our catcher's first varsity game," Moorestown coach Bill Mulvihill said. "Dana wasn't a catcher until this week. Normally she's a third baseman.

"She did a good job, especially keeping the ball in front of her."

Mulvihill couldn't resist comparing this opener to last year's, when the Quakers fell to Cinnaminson, 1-0. The veteran coach enjoyed this one much more than the last one.

Cinnaminson 000 000 0 - 0 7 0

Moorestown 000 012 x - 3 7 3

WP: Lauren Pfister. LP Catherine Dennen.

2B: M–Lea Giosa, Sam Booth, Megan Hogan.