Twordik tosses shutout as Massey moves on

The Vincent Massey Vikings not only defended home turf, but home plate.

And third base. And second, for that matter.

The Vikings prevented the Ste. Rose Celtics from even reaching second base in a 10-0 blowout at Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex on Tuesday, punching their ticket to provincials.

Quinn Twordik pitched all four innings, striking out five of the 12 batters she faced before the Vikings racked up enough runs to invoke the run rule.

It didn’t seem like it’d be such a short afternoon at the start, though, following two scoreless innings. Massey shortstop Kendra Grift credited Twordik for keeping the team in a good spot despite some lacklustre offence early.

“It was really important to let us have some wiggle room there to keep going later. If she wasn’t on point like she was today, it would have been a whole different ball game,” Grift said, adding Ste. Rose pitcher Chayse Paradis took some time to solve.

“We learned how her ball spins more and applied that to our next at bat. We all hit the ball when we knew how she pitched.”

The turning point was in the bottom of the third inning, with a runner on third for Macey McIvor’s dangerous bat.

The lefty blasted a one-hopper straight into Paradis’ glove arm, visibly shaking the talented freshman.

“It was just such a hard hit and got everyone on their (heels) a bit,” Grift said.

“She played a good game until she got hit there, but she was tough to keep playing.”

Paradis stayed in the game, but walked Kaylee Rank before Twordik doubled, then Grift and Jade Campbell tripled to right field to quickly make it 5-0.

Through three, Twordik had only seen each batter once, as catcher Rachel Lyver caught one batter stealing in the first and another in the third.

Those were the only two hits the sophomore gave up, along with one walk, quickly followed by the base runner being ruled out for leaving early.

Twordik tacked on her fifth strikeout in the fourth before joining a string of singles and errors to tack on five more runs.

Vikings coach Braden Pilling is happy to advance, but feels the slow start could be a big problem at provincials, where preliminary games and the first two rounds of the playoffs are five-inning contests.

“We’ve been preaching that hitting is what’s going to give us the best chance of winning. Our defence and pitching are solid enough but we’re going to have to out-hit people and in a five-inning game, waiting until the third to score our first one may not make it in provincials,” Pilling said.

Massey reached the provincial final last year but lost a lopsided game to St-Joachim/Real-Berard.

The Vikings didn’t graduate anyone from that group, though, and Pilling feels the team is more ready this time around for a few reasons.

“The coaching staff, me in particular, knows the girls better this year,” Pilling said.

“Once you get to know what they’re capable of, where they’re strong, that helps. Having another year of our philosophy and approach helps a lot.

“We understand what the tournament’s like now. Last year, it was, ‘It’s just high school,’ but they’ve learned how hard it is to win that thing.”

The event is June 5-6 in Pilot Mound.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com