Empire State Huskies Ride Hiley’s Shutout, Brown’s Big Bat

By The Dub Report

The Empire State Huskies had two answers Capital Region Reign never solved: Gretchan Hiley in the circle and Kate Brown at the plate.

Hiley slammed the door for five scoreless innings, striking out four while allowing just three hits and two walks in a 4-0 Huskies victory. The Reign occasionally put a runner aboard, but Hiley never let an inning get away from her. She attacked the next hitter, trusted her defense and kept zeros piling up on the scoreboard.

She contributed at the plate, too, reaching all three times with a single and two walks while scoring once.

That made the Huskies’ three-run first inning even more damaging.
With two outs, Brown kept the inning alive by shooting a ground-ball single into center.

Hiley followed with a walk, and the Huskies kept grinding through plate appearances. A wild pitch broke the scoreless tie before Mary Aurrichio and T’Aira Walters each worked bases-loaded walks, turning a two-out rally into a quick 3-0 lead.

Brown was only getting started.

Three at-bats. Three singles. Three different spots on the field.

Her first hit found center. In the third, Brown lasered a line drive into right. In the fourth, she struck again, beating out a ground ball to shortstop. Wherever the defense lined up, Brown found somewhere else to put it. She finished a perfect 3-for-3 and scored one of the Huskies’ four runs.

The rest of the lineup kept the pressure coming. Easton Waller opened the Huskies’ first turn with a hard ground-ball single to left. Hiley ripped a line-drive single to left in the third, and Melody Nardone opened the fourth with a line drive of her own before advancing to second on an error.

Nardone soon supplied the Huskies’ final run. She tagged to third on a fly ball, then raced home when Cori Exarchakis put a ground ball in play and reached on an error.
By then, Hiley had everything she needed.

She followed the Huskies’ three-run first with four straight scoreless frames, including a clean one-two-three fourth. Every time the Reign tried to create an opening, Hiley shut it down.

The offense built the lead. Brown kept spraying hits around the field. And Hiley made sure the Reign never got on the board.