Marauders Drop Rockets on Diamond in Bay State Opener

It took nearly three hours and nine innings of baseball before Dedham was able to earn their second win of the season, as the Marauders defeated the Needham Rockets 5-4.

“That’s a good team over there,” said Dedham coach Kevin Quaranto. “I liked the way we battled today. We got on base when we had to, we drew some walks, Cam [Clifford] came up with a huge hit [to secure the win].”

Said Needham coach John Fritas, “Nine inning leagues. That’s the thing I keep telling the kids. They know it. A lot of the veterans know it, [but] they’re probably having some second guesses on how they treated the game.”  

As the game began, both teams struggled to put base runners on the base path, but after two scoreless innings, Needham’s Brain McKittrick scored the first run of the contest when David Coffman hit a RBI double during the bottom half of the third inning. Coffman would also score during that same inning too, which gave the Rockets a comfortable 2-0 lead.

Dedham [2-1, 1-0] finally found their way onto the scoreboard when Cam Clifford hit a RBI double during the top of the fifth inning, which drove in Patrick Maloney. The Marauders score seemed to somewhat rattle the Rocket’s pitcher, Zack Borson, who pitched five innings and allowed one run, six hits and struck out four batters.

Although, Needham regained their composure after David Coffman was hit by one of Dan O’Connor’s pitches. Coffman ended up maneuvering his way around the base path, as well as scored the Rockets third run of the game when Brad Holland recorded a single.

During the top of the sixth inning, Needham handed the ball to Nate Brown, who baffled the Marauders offense for two back-to-back innings. Yet, Brown’s magic slowly wore off during the top of the eighth inning when Dedham’s Matt Baron drove Tom Connolly and Matt Baron home off a sacrifice fly, which tied the game at 3-3.

Needham responded during the bottom of the eighth inning when Jamie Arnao scored on an error, which gave the Rockets a 4-3 lead heading into the ninth inning.

Although, once again, Dedham rallied to score two additional runs during the top half of the ninth inning thanks to a two-run double by Cam Clifford. Both Jason Riley and Ricky Green recorded the fourth and fifth runs of the day, which was followed up by a 1-2-3 bottom ninth thanks to Dedham’s Chris DeLouchrey.  

“DeLouchrey came in and did exactly what he did the other day,” said Quaranto. “He comes in, throws strikes [and] that’s the name of the game.”

Softball

Dedham 10, Needham 0 (5 innings)

Dedham pitcher Brooke Sheehan fanned nine of the 17 batters she faced in a mercy rule-shortened no-hitter. Nicole Perosino led the Marauders [3-0] with five RBI, including a grand slam home run. 

Girls Lacrosse

Sharon 6, Dedham 4

Kayla Ross made 10 saves in net for the Marauders, and Meaghan Dwan led Dedham with three goals in the losing effort.