Pearl River sophomore pitchers Mandy McCarthy and Caroline Kardashian combined for a three-hit shutout in a 10-0 victory at home Thursday against Clarkstown North, as the Pearl River softball team used a 10-0 win to improve to 10-0 on the season.
“We have two good pitchers and I like to try and use both of them,” Pearl River Coach Mike Carlacci said. “I didn’t think it was Mandy’s sharpest outing, so I wanted to get Caroline in there to shut them down.”
McCarthy pitched the first four innings, giving up two hits and striking out four while walking nobody.
“It definitely wasn't my best outing, it wasn’t as sharp, but you’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to try and do what you can do on your not as good days and then know you’re going to swing back from it,” said McCarthy, who had thrown a no-hitter and a one-hitter in her last two outings.
Kardashian pitched the last three innings, giving up one hit while striking out four and walking one.
“She was hitting a lot of spots,” McCarthy said. “She was definitely lights out.”
The Rams (2-7) had only three people reach as far as second base the entire game against the Pirates, who improved to 10-0.
McCarthy also helped herself out at the plate, diving in four runs on two hits. Three of those RBIs came with two outs, and in total the Pirates scored five of their 10 runs with two outs.
“We got some timely hitting,” Carlacci said. “I don’t think we hit the ball real hard consistently, but we got some two-out hits and things when we needed them.”
Still, McCarthy thought there was room to improve offensively for the Pirates, especially since the start of the season, when she said the team had a more explosive offense.
“Lately we’ve been facing really good pitching, we’ve kind of slowed down a bit,” McCarthy said. “We’ve got to make sure we get back on top of that, especially today we should’ve been more on top of getting nice swings in there.”
The Pirates were also helped out offensively by four Rams errors. North starter Amanda Stark pitched five innings and gave up 10 runs, but only seven of those were earned.
“It’s been going like that,” said North Coach Mike Barbetto. “We’re hitting the ball pretty well, but unfortunately we’re not making the plays in the field.”
For the Rams, Lauren Strum came in the last two innings and gave up no runs on three hits.
For the Pirates, Sam Alicandri, Shannon McKiernan and Erin Woods all score two runs each, and Woods drove in one as well.
