Downingtown West opens lead in Ches-Mont National with win over Downingtown East

LIONVILLE—The Whippets did just about everything right in their first match-up against the crosstown rival Cougars. They played small ball, led by the speed of lead-off Meghan Sinkus. They hit for power in the clutch, with three-extra base hits with runners on. They got solid pitching, and played lights out defense. Add it all up, and it was a West victory, with the Whippets (8-1, 8-1) topping Downingtown East (6-4, 6-3) by a score of 7-1.

“We played a pretty good game today, we hit well, ran the bases well, and played good defense,” said West coach Joey Germani. “East has a good team. We knew we had to play our best to win. It’s a nice win, but now we get ready for Coatesville on Monday.” 

Still scoreless to start the third, Mavica Mendez (2 for 3, R) got things going for the Whippets with a single to left. Meghan Sinkus made it first and second when she beat out a bunt for a base hit. Taylor Posner made it bases loaded, reaching on a fielder’s choice. Lizzie Kern made the most out of the opportunity, stroking a single up the middle to score Mendez and Sinkus.

Sinkus finished the day with three bunts singles, and three runs scored.

“I haven’t been hitting my best lately, so it made me motivated to get my bunts down,” said Sinkus. “It’s always fun to play East, because we’ve all known each other so long. It’s always going to be a good game because of that, but’s it’s always great to get the win. Especially this year when we keep hearing that they are such a good team.”

A solo shot to left from Nicole Lioumis in the fourth made it 3-0 Whippets before the Cougars got on the board.

“We can move Nicole all through the line-up, and she can give us that power,” said Germani. “That ball went a long way. I bet it was at least 235.” 

The Cougars lone score came in the bottom half of the fourth, when Steph Allesandro knocked in Brooke Protesto with an RBI double to the gap in left center.

“We played a pretty solid game,” said East coach Bill Williamson. “We played great defense, and we got some great at bats. We were probably only two or three key hits away from a win. But West has some great hitters in that line-up. We just need to be more aggressive early in the count. We made good contact, but too many line-drives right at people. Lots of season left, and well be right there.” 

West added another run on the fifth, with Morgan DeFreitas knocking in Sinkus, then rounded out the scoring with a three-run seventh, highlighted by a double from Kern (2 for

4, 2B, 3RBI) and a triple from Annie Eliason.

Audrey Wright picked up the pitching win for the Whippets, going six strong. She allowed one run on four scattered hits, striking out five while walking two.  


              1 2 3 4 5 6 7   R H E
DWest 0 0 2 1 1 0 3   7 13 0
DEast 0 0 0 1 0 0 0   1 4 0

Downingtown West
Player AB R H RBI 
Sinkus—CF 4 3 3 0
Posner –3B 4 0 1 0 
Kern–RF 4 1 2 3 
DeFreitas—1B 4 0 1 1 
Gasser—PR 0 0 0 0 
Weller–LF 4 1 2 1 
Eliason–SS 4 0 1 1 
Lioumis—C 4 1 1 1 
Mendez—DP 3 0 2 0 
Smith–PR 0 1 0 0 
Ahlborn—2B 3 0 0 0 
Wright– FLX/P 0 0 0 0
Ava Zettlemoyer–P 0 0 0 0
Totals         34 7 13 7
Downingtown East
Player AB R H RBI 
Robinson—2B 3 0 0 0 
Thornton—RF 4 0 1 0 
Sudall—C 2 0 1 0 
Protesto—1B 3 1 0 0
Alessandro–SS 3 0 1 1 
Townsend–DP 2 0 0 0 
Mullan—PR 0 0 0 0 
Ponto—LF 3 0 1 0 
Romano—P 3 0 0 0 
Schumann—3B 2 0 0 0 
Grace Roth—FX/CF 0 0 0 0
Totals 25 1 4 1 

HR—Lioumis 3B—Eliason 2B—Kern, Allesandro

Pitching
West IP H R ER SO BB
Audrey Wright 6.0 4 1 1 5 2
Ava Zettlemoyer 1.0 0 0 0 1 2
Totals 7.0 4 1 1 6 4

East
Angelina Romano 5.0 9 4 4 2 0
Rachael Schumann 2.0 4 3 3 1 0
Totals 7.0 13 7 7 3 0