PETALUMA >> New Middletown High School softball coach Bob Gunion took away a handful of positives from the Mustangs’ season-opening 14-4 loss to the St. Vincent Mustangs on Thursday afternoon in Petaluma.
“I was really impressed with out defense (no errors), I was impressed with our outfield play,” Gunion said. “We also ran the bases well (seven stolen bases).”
Middletown (0-1) trailed only 4-2 going to the bottom of the fourth inning when St. Vincent broke the game open against Jacklynn Best, who was working in relief of starting pitcher Makaili Brown. It was a tough day all the way around for Brown, who took the loss after being knocked out of the game in the bottom of the second when she was struck by a line drive.
“We walked a bunch of batters,” Gunion said of the 13 free passes issued by Middletown pitching.
Jessica Zell went 1-for-3 with two RBIs for Middletown while Abi Murphy (1-for-2) and Gracie Armstrong (1-for-3) also knocked in runs. Aly Ferguson and Alli Vierra had the Mustangs’ other hits.
The threatening skies overhead gave way to rain in the fourth inning and the game was briefly halted before resuming on St. Vincent’s all-weather field.
“The water drains off of it really well,” Gunion said.
Middletown is scheduled to host Piner on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
