Dialog reporter
PIKE CREEK – Abby Cunningham tossed seven strong innings, and Katie Twardowski scored two runs and drove in three as Padua won its second straight softball game, 7-4, over Concord on April 10 at Midway Softball Complex. The Pandas improved to 5-2 with the victory.
After going down in order in the first inning, Padua scored four in the second. Zoey Jones and Cunningham singled to open the frame, and Gabriella Frabizzio, squaring to sacrifice bunt, took a pitch hard off her midsection. Frabizzio remained in the game, and the bases were loaded for Twardowski. The sophomore outfielder sent a pitch the opposite way to the fence in right, clearing the bases, and she came in on a fielding error on the next play.
Padua added single runs in the third and fourth on RBI hits by Cunningham and Jones, respectively, but Concord – which had managed just one baserunner through the first four innings – made some noise in the fifth.
Mary Plasmier led off the fifth with a base hit to center. Cunningham briefly lost her focus, walking the next two batters to load the bases. Raiders senior Shelly Johnson brought home two runs with a sharp double to left-center and, after a strikeout, Kaitlyn Carter came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Sarah Raab.
Amelia Giordano knocked in the Pandas’ final run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 7-3, but Concord could would score just one more time when Raab picked up an RBI single that plated Carter in the seventh. Cunningham ended any thoughts of a late comeback by striking out the final batter of the game, her eighth on the warm, sunny afternoon.
Jones had three hits and reached base four times for Padua, and Cunningham added three hits. The Pandas return to Midway on Tuesday when they host St. Mark’s at 4 p.m.
For Concord (2-2), Eryn Bailey had two hits. The Raiders are at home against A.I. DuPont on Thursday at 3:45 p.m.
