The Marblehead Magicians varsity softball team opened the season with a dominant 11-3 win over the Lynnfield Pioneers on Tuesday afternoon.
“It was a great win,” said Magicians head coach, Johnny Gold. “I’m really happy with the way we hit the ball. We slammed it all over the field. It was cold, which is tough for pitchers, but Tessa (Francis) did a great job throwing.”
Catcher Isabel Mortensen opened the hit column with a double to left field on the second pitch of the game. A sacrifice bunt from Nora Mahan moved her over to third and a groundout to second by Tessa Francis saw Mortensen make her way home for the first run of the game. The Pioneers responded with three runs in the home half of the first, but the Magicians would regain the lead with a two RBI single by Mahan in the second inning.
Marblehead would continue to pile on the runs in the middle innings. Hailey Schmitt drove in two runs on a liner up the middle in the third, bringing home Tessa Andriano and Lucy Rogers, and Ashley Mortensen knocked in a run on a hard groundball past a diving shortstop to put the magicians up 6-3 at the halfway point of the ballgame.
After giving up three runs in the first, Francis retired 11 consecutive batters, striking out seven, before giving up a pair of walks to start the fifth inning. Unphased by the traffic on the basepaths, she would fan the next two batters and force a lazy fly ball to right to strand the pair of Lynnfield baserunners.
A trio of Lynnfield errors in the sixth saw Marblehead run away with the lead as four runs came across the plate in the inning to make the score 11-3.
Francis dominated in her final two innings of work, giving up only one hit, a one out single before ending the game on a grounder to first. The senior picked up her first win of the new campaign, allowing three runs on as many hits while striking out 12.
The Marblehead offense was led by a 2-4 performance by Isabel Mortensen from the leadoff spot.
The Magicians play again today at 4 p.m. away against Masconomet Regional High School.
