Carboni, Lucidi lead Upper Dublin’s offense in 5-inning win over Springfield-Montco

UPPER DUBLIN >> Lauren Carboni has been stuck in an offensive slump but Upper Dublin softball’s senior catcher made sure to never stop being optimistic.

“I was hitting the ball but just not how I wanted to completely,” she said. “So I always hope for better things for myself. I always know I can do better, show myself better at the plate next time. Always try to prove that to everyone.”

That positivity produced results for both Carboni and the Cardinals Tuesday afternoon against visiting Springfield-Montco. Carboni collected three hits and drove in four runs – the last two in the bottom of the fifth inning to give Upper Dublin a 10-0 Senior Day victory in the Suburban One League nondivision contest.

“She’s always been a great hitter,” said UD coach Heather Boyer of Carboni. “She had a crazy, great sophomore year and then obviously last year there wasn’t anything for anybody but she was a quiet, good player. This year she’s emerging as that verbal leader and that good role model, too, which is really important.”

Carboni finished 3-for-4 with a three singles, Dani Lucidi was 2-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored while Liz Baginski allowed just two hits in a five-inning shutout as the Cardinals (3-4, 1-4 SOL Liberty) earn their second straight win.

“I’ve been in a little bit of a slump, making contact but not quite getting hits so today was a really big boost for me actually,” Carboni said. “I just had a positive attitude today – Senior Day, just my mindset was really high today. It was awesome.”

Ally McDaid tripled and scored twice for Upper Dublin, which came into the week carrying a four-game losing streak. But the Cards snapped that Monday with a 12-2 six-inning win over Dock Mennonite then recorded another run-rule victory Tuesday, scoring four times in both to fourth and fifth to pull away from the visiting Spartans.

Carboni provided the walk-off hit with two outs in the fifth, knocking a single to the left side of the infield, bringing home both Rayla Kratchman and Lucidi.

“So I’m normally not the two-out, last-inning hitter but these past few games I have been,” Carboni said. “And I was unlucky against Wiss(ahickon) last week, I hit a popup which they fielded it very nicely and everything and the pitcher was awesome.

“So this week I was just attack the ball, hit the ball, just get it in play and hopefully they’ll either make an error or I’ll get a hit out of it so I was lucky.”

Baginski allowed just two singles in tossing UD’s first shutout of the season, the senior right-hander walking one batter while striking out two.

“That felt really good,” Baginski said. “I stayed confident the whole time and my whole team had my back and that really let me just kind of play my game and not get tense and just have a good game and have fun. I had my whole infield with seniors so that felt really nice to just have them all right behind me and girls that I’ve been playing with for years and years.”

Chloe Morales and Amayiah Murray each had a hit for Springfield (1-4, 1-3 SOL Freedom) while Spartans starting pitcher Lauren Hussie took the loss, giving up six runs – one earned – on five hits. She walked four, hit one batter and struck out three.

“She’s a sophomore, this is her first year on varsity, last year of course as a freshman she didn’t get to play, so she’s a young pitcher and she showed a lot of mental strength,” said Springfield coach Jeannine DePaul-Nelson of Hussie. “And she dug in and she made the pitches when she needed to after that first couple batters even. And I’m very proud of her, I’m very proud of everybody who played today.”

Both teams are back on the field for games 3:45 p.m. Thursday – Springfield hosts Quakertown while Upper Dublin goes for its third win in a row visiting William Tennent.

“Reset and just kind of get back on the right track,” Boyer said. “Get people feeling good about themselves offensively, defensively and believing that they can do it.”

The Cardinals grabbed an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the bottom of the first. Ally McDaid led off with a walk, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored as Lucidi reached on a two-base error.

Lucidi went to third on a passed ball as Gretchen Wolpert drew a walk and came home on Carboni’s RBI ground out.

In the bottom of the fourth, Baginski kept the inning alive by reaching second on a two-out error. Her courtesy runner Kratchman scored on a Brianna Kesslick RBI single to the right side of the infield – an error on the play advancing Kesslick to second. McDaid came up the next at-bat and ripped a RBI triple to left for a 4-0 lead.

Lucidi bounced an RBI single in front of home plate to score McDaid. After Wolpert walked, Carboni dropped a RBI single behind second base, bringing in Lucidi to put UD up six.

“I think it’s an awesome confidence boost for us,” Carboni said. “We really needed that for our offense. We got some younger girls here that really needed that confidence, they know they can hit the ball. They can hit the ball but they just needed to know it and they, the past two days, have really showed that and I’m really proud of all of them.”

The Cardinals again struck for four two-out runs in the fifth. Lucidi plated the first two as her single to the infield’s right side bring in both Anna Levin and Courtney McKenna.

After Wolpert’s third walk of the afternoon, Carboni collected her third single, scoring Kratchman and Lucidi to seal the win.