By Angela Watts
Managing Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
** Look for the video player below the story for dozens of highlights from Monday’s game. **
On a night where Centreville seniors Megan deLorimier, Haley Morton, Kimberly Oden and Brianne Pease were honored for their numerous contributions to the Wildcats’ softball program, it was junior third baseman Kirsten Sepulveda who drew the night’s biggest cheers.
Only, her teammates in the dugout weren’t screaming for Kirsten. Not for Sepulveda either. Nor did they even cheer for “1” — the black number emblazoned on the back of her light blue, home jersey.
They, instead, were chanting for the Hulk.
“It’s because of my beastly size,” giggled the 5-feet-6-inch, 115-pound Sepulveda, who said there is even a little photo of the Incredible Hulk that her teammates carry and place above her bag at each game. “It’s an inside joke, I guess.”
But Monday night, the petite Sepulved lived up to her large nickname in what proved a 7-0 victory for the host Wildcats.
Centreville broke open the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI by junior catcher Victoria Marvin that scored freshman shortstop Cara Donovan, who reached on a single. Junior first baseman Jessica Ferrick, who reached on a walk, then dove to the plate on a dropped third strike for a 2-0 lead.
But the Wildcats weren’t done there.
Sepulveda, the team’s No. 6 batter, blasted a hard-hit double to right/center field that scored two more runs and opened the flood gates. Centreville (16-2 overall, 11-0 Concorde District) added another run in the fifth on an RBI by Ferrick and two more in the sixth on RBIs by deLorimier and Oden to pick up its eighth consecutive victory.
Herndon, meanwhile, fell to 11-6 overall and 6-4 in league play.
“I’d like us to come out hitting right from the start, and it’s taking us a little while to get there,” Wildcats’ Coach Rich Ferrick said. “But I really can’t complain because when the bats get going, they get going real good. The top of our order has been real sweet, and Kirsten really had an awesome game tonight, but she’s noted for that. She’ll come up with that big hit when we really need it.
“It’s nice that I’ve got three or four or five kids that I know what they can do, but my 6-7-8-9 … those are the kids that are going to make a difference for us. When they do something great, good things are going to happen for us.”
Pease, who alternates with Ferrick between the pitching circle and first base, went the distance for the Wildcats, yielding zero runs on three hits while fanning eight batters, including striking out the side in the fifth inning.
“We usually like to use both pitchers, but this was senior night and this was a game that, hopefully, we wanted Bri to remember and to be special for her,” Rich Ferrick said. “But they’ve been a great one-two punch for us. When a team thinks they’re getting used to one, here comes the other. Could both of them go pitch for another team and go seven innings every game? Yeah, they could. And I know it’s been tough on them not doing that. But I think they’re starting to understand the logic behind what we’re trying to do.
“Bri moves the ball around a lot, and Jessica throws really hard and has a good change-up … and that makes it so tough on the hitters we face.”
Herndon strung all three hits together in the third inning to load the bases — courtesy of a double by freshman third baseman Julia Miller and singles by senior center fielder Marra Hvozdovic and senior pitcher Katie Briggs — but proved unable to plate a run in its lone threat. The only other Hornet to reach base did so on a second-inning walk.
“It’s just amazing,” Pease said. “We’ve gone through the entire season doing absolutely fantastic … the team has come together, everyone is amazing in the field and at the plate, and we get up for the games. But to win on senior night is just the cherry on top. Most of us have been on varsity for four years, so we’ve watched all of the other seniors go. And now, it’s our turn. And to win makes it that much better.”
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
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Centreville 000 412 X — 7
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