Pilgrim sophomore Caitlyn Fallon had 11 strikeouts in a complete-game shutout to help the Pats down rival Toll Gate, 7-0, at Winslow Park on Friday afternoon. Fallon also added three RBIs at the plate.

“She gets the game ball today,” Pilgrim head coach Paul Kennedy said. “I think three hits at the plate, reached on an error too. So, on base for all four times and just a very strong game in the circle. She fielded well, hit well, she did everything for us.”

The right-hander and the rest of the Pats came into the game ready to go.

“I think we all came out very strong,” Fallon said. “I was very happy that we got to play our rivals and we all came out and did our job.”

Junior Quinn Freeman pitched for the Titans and she got the first two hitters to ground out. But, the third batter she faced, Jeriann Evans, worked a walk before eventually stealing second base. Then, Fallon stepped into the batters’ box and socked a single to score Evans, giving Pilgrim an early 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Toll Gate sophomore Mallorie Link hit the first pitch for a leadoff single up the middle. However, Fallon was able to get the next two hitters to fly out, before Ashley Armstrong reached first base on an error. With runners at first and second, Katelyn Hawes lined out for the final out of the inning, stranding the runners.

With two outs in the top of the second inning, Pilgrim struck again when Mackenzie Hough hit a base hit up the middle. Hough would steal second before Morgan Almon hit a single to bring her home, putting Pilgrim up 2-0. With runners at first and second, Kayla Morin drilled a double to right field to score Almon, giving the Patriots a 3-0 edge. Then, Evans walked to load the bases for Fallon. The pitcher got her team some insurance when she blasted a single to score both Morin and Cooney, giving the Pats a 5-0 lead. With runners at the corners, Olivia King hit a shot to center to score Evans, putting Pilgrim up 6-0. Moments later, Destinee Charette, who was pinch-running for Fallon, scored from third on an error during a pickoff attempt, making it 7-0.

“Nice to see the bats come alive in that inning,” Kennedy said. “The defense, the pitching, the whole game was nice to see.”

The lone bright spot for the Titans was Hawes, who came in relief of Freeman in the top of the third and threw five innings of shutout ball, including three strikeouts.

“She did a great job coming out on the mound for us,” Toll Gate head coach Shana Willis said. “She was able to get a lot of ground ball outs. She pitched the ball really well today,”

Even Pilgrim’s Fallon and Kennedy were impressed with Hawes’ performance.

“I think that she’s a very good pitcher and she has a lot of spin on her ball,” Fallon said. “And I think we were just trying to focus on our defense more, trying not to let anything through. So, our offense did fall short in the second half, but good thing our first half was strong.”

“She came in and we had a couple of hits here and there, but couldn’t score any more runs,” Kennedy added. “She did a real nice job – a change of pace a little bit from the first pitcher and kept us off balance.”

Toll Gate tried to put some runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning. Alexis LeBelle got on via an error when Pilgrim’s Charette overthrew the first baseman. Then, Armstrong got a hit to put runners at first and second. Nevertheless, Fallon was able to get Hawes to line out before striking out Emily May to end the inning.

“We just couldn’t string hits together,” Willis said. “We had runners in scoring position and we left them on base. We had one bad inning where they actually had some hits and walks mixed in and an error and we couldn’t bounce back from it.”