On a nice mid-April Thursday afternoon the Mechanicville Red Raiders made the trip to Greenwich to take on the Witches in an early season Wasaren softball contest.  First pitch temperature was 55 degrees, and 75 minutes later Greenwich walked off the diamond with a 3-0 decision, in a well played game between two quality squads.

Both pitchers, Mechanicville’s Emily Ford and the Witches Rachel Hall, were sharp early, each retiring six of the first seven batters they faced with Hall getting four on strikes.

In the bottom of the third Greenwich got on the board when lead-off hitter Sabrina Whitehouse lined a two out single to right, and Kaylee Ciccarone plated her with a long single up the right-center gap giving the Witches the 1-0 advantage.

In the top of the fourth the Raiders moved a runner into scoring position as Ford ripped a one out single to left, and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice, but was stranded when Hall fanned Alivia Wood to end the inning.

In frames four and five the Raiders Ford faced the minimum, fanning two and letting her defense, error free on the day, flash the leather behind her.

In the sixth the visitors looked to get in the scoring column with the top of their order, Devon Scott leading things off.  Scott rifled a ball ticketed to right field, but second baseman Helen Smith picked the one-hopper to her glove side, and threw to first getting Scott.

That play loomed large as Haley Rivers followed with a single to left, and two batters later Greenwich committed their lone error of the afternoon putting Raiders on second and third with two out.

First pitch swinging Alivia Wood hit a shot right back at Hall that the lefty calmly snared on the hop and threw to first to escape the inning.

In the bottom of the frame Greenwich plated a pair giving Hall and the Witches some breathing room.  After back to back singles by Whitehouse and Ciccarone, Smith lined an RBI single up the middle scoring Whitehouse, and Courtney Fraher followed with an RBI ground out pushing Ciccarone across for the 3-0 lead, which was more than enough on this day.

Quality pitching backed by impressive defenses described both teams in this one, but Greenwich’s timely hitting proved to be the difference as the Witches put this early season get-together, in the win column.