Somerville pounds out nine extra-base hits in Women’s League win

By JAMES A. McCRAY III

Staff writerThe Southern Maryland area finally felt relief from the heat on Monday with temperatures reaching in the 80s, but 7th District Park in Bushwood was still scorching.

That’s because in Monday’s Women’s League softball contest against Southern, the Somerville Insurance team bats never received the memo that things were to cool off.

Heating up with an Angeletta King inside-the-park home run only three batters into the game, the Somerville bats remained as hot as the 100-degree days that terrorized the East Coast this past week.

Somerville pounded out 21 hits, nine of which were for extra bases, in its 22-5 victory in the battle between the two teams atop the Division 1 standings.

“It cooled off [outside],” King said, jokingly, of why the bats got hot. “It was a big game and the battle of the best. I was just saying on the way up here that we haven’t really hit, yet. We brought them [the bats] out tonight.”

King led the way with a game-high four RBIs, including a home run, an RBI double and a two-RBI single in Monday’s victory.

“Stay hot,” King said of her goal at the plate. “I had my team telling me to stay hot, so I had to stay hot. It wasn’t perfect and when I didn’t hit, someone else did. We worked as a team and I think this is the best I have seen us so far.”

Somerville (11-1) scored in every inning except for the fourth and sixth innings, the two innings in which it did not get a single hit.

To the joy of Somerville head coach Linda Somerville, her team avenged its only loss of the season, a 6-2 loss to Southern to open the 2012 season.

The biggest reason Somerville won, their bats.

“Southern makes you bring it out,” Somerville said. “You have to come prepared for that team because they are the defending champs. You have to be prepared when you come to play them and you have to bring your bats.

“I am glad they came tonight, I am glad they brought them all tonight. We have been knocking it around and against some of the other teams, but I also knew they had a little more in them. They brought it out tonight.”

Somerville trailed 2-1 after the first, but a six-run second followed by a four-run third helped blow the game open.

A two-RBI triple from Brooke Martin in the second and a two-RBI triple from Lora Digulimio in the third were the pivotal at-bats.

Digulimio also picked up the victory for Somerville from the rubber in a complete-game performance.

“It’s nice to win and it’s nice to see us come together as a team,” Digulimio said. “We’re finally hitting, finally playing good defense and the more the season progresses, we’ve been able to jell together. Right now, it’s good to win, but it doesn’t mean anything until playoffs and the championship.”

Somerville kept the pressure on with an eight-run fifth that put the game out of reach, giving it a 19-5 lead.

The Southern offense was held at bay mainly due to the defense behind Digulimio that included strong infield play, specifically from third baseman Anita Nelson (2 RBIs).

“That was really impressive tonight,” Digulimio said of her defense. “They did a great job and I was really impressed with them. They came here to play and they came here to win and they did a great job.”

Southern and head coach Tommy King suffered its first loss of the season and dropped to 9-1 this year.

“Last year, we didn’t get our first loss until the playoffs,” King said. “I think that hurt us. We squeaked through last year, but I am glad that we have a league loss under their belt this year.”

A two-RBI single from Trisha Sagers in the first gave Southern a 2-1 lead, but it would be the only lead it would hold.

“We had one inning where we played like us, but other than that, I don’t know who we were,” King said.

jmccray@somdnews.com

Somerville Insurance 22, Southern 5

Somerville 164 080 3 22 21 2

Southern 203 000 0 5 7 3

WP Somerville, LP Mayor

Extra-base hits: 2B King (Som), Camp (Som), Barnes (Som); 3B Martin (Som), Stauffer (Som), Digulimio (Som), Camp (Som), Nelson (Som); HR King (Som)