Hartford-Fort Edward loses first two games
By Keith Harrington
After losing a talented group of seniors when they last were able to play in 2019, the Hartford-Fort Edward softball program is going through a rebuilding stage. The growing pains were evident last week as Hartford-Fort Edward dropped its first two games of the season to Warrensburg and Whitehall.
Russell Wade’s team lost eight seniors to graduation two years ago and was counting on last season to break in a new young core. With COVID-19 costing his team a year to gain experience, this season is starting off rough.
“We lost two pitchers, our catcher, third baseman, first baseman, shortstop and centerfielder. That’s a lot,” Wade said. “We’re starting from square one.”
On Thursday, May 6, at home against Warrensburg Wade’s team was not able to solve the offensive attack of the Burghers in a 19-1 Adirondack League loss. Warrensburg opened a huge early lead and were never challenged by the young Flying Tanagers.
The Burghers pushed a run across in the first, two more in the second and eight in the third to take a commanding 11-1 lead.
It was easy for Wade to pinpoint the crux of his team’s problem against Warrensburg.
“Errors. The first game was errors. We should have been out of that third inning with one or two runs,” Wade stated. “Warrensburg came ready to play. A lot of their girls play travel ball in the off-season, and it showed.”
A lack of veterans, a year off from playing and a shortened amount of practice time before beginning the season are all factors in Hartford-Fort Edward’s slow start, according to Wade.
“Our biggest issue is we only have three returners,” he said. “And a whole year off. And four practices. There was nothing. Not even off-season stuff. Give us another week to get some more games and practices under our belts where we can work on some stuff and we’ll be better.”
Warrensburg closed the game out by adding five more runs in the fourth and three in the fifth.
Nayana DeAmelia went 3 for 4, with a double and triple and three RBIs for the Burghers. Alonah Olden was 3 for 4 with a double, a triple and four RBIs.
Kailey Bacon earned the win in the circle, spinning a one-hitter with six strikeouts.
Warrensburg was 1-0 after the win. Hartford-Fort Edward was 0-1.
In the team’s second game of the season on Friday things didn’t get any easier for Hartford-Fort Edward as they were back on their home diamond against a strong Whitehall team. The Railroaders pounded out 22 hits on their way to a 24-5 win in five innings.
Whitehall jumped out to a 9-0 lead after two innings. Hartford-Fort Edward plated three runs in the bottom of the second to inch closer. However, the Railroaders bounced back to lead 13-5 after the third.
Vinna Jensen and the Whitehall defense shut down the Flying Tanagers the rest of the game, and the Railroaders tacked on 11 more runs over the final two innings to leave no doubt about the outcome.
Brooke Benjamin was 4 for 5 for Whitehall with a pair of doubles. Madison Gould was 3 for 5 with two doubles. Jensen added three hits including a triple. Blake Bird and Ava Ruby were also 3 for 4.
Alexis Sesselman was 2 for 2 with a double for Hartford-Fort Edward. Hannah Lawrence and 8th grader Ava Nadeau doubled.
Jensen spread around eight hits in picking up the pitching win for Whitehall.
Even with the two losses, Wade is trying to keep things positive.
We’ll take it day by day.” He said. “Our biggest goal is to improve game by game. Our biggest hurdle has been our timeframe. I hope that we are playing better by sectional time.”
Whitehall is now 2-0. Hartford-Fort Edward is 0-2.
