Faythe Goins pitches for Hammond against Ben Lippen. The Hammond softball team’s victories on April 12 and April 15 against Ben Lippen High School contained in itself a lot of numbers previously unfamiliar to the Skyhawks.

10: At the first game, Hammond was on the winning end of a 10–run slaughter–rule game, beating the Falcons 16–6 in five innings – a first for the Skyhawks who have spent many years on the other side of run–shortened games.

2: With the wins, Hammond (5–5,3–2) is virtually assured a second– consecutive trip to post–season play.

3: At the rematch on April 15, Hammond pulled off a triple play, technically, which left the rowdy Senior Night crowd cheering wildly and shaking their heads in disbelief.

April 15’s game was much more competitive than the 10–4 Hammond victory would indicate. Hammond coach Ken Beasley said his team was prepared for a fight in the second matchup.

Ben Lippen’s Lydia Carpenter bats against Hammond. “Ben Lippen had beaten St. Joseph’s, a team that had beaten us, so we knew they were a better team than Monday’s game indicated,” Beasley said.

True to form, the Falcons took a 1–0 lead in the first when Allie Bone reached on an error and scored on an Amanda Boyd double.

Ben Lippen threat- ened again in the second inning, scored another run, and had runners standing on the corners with one out. Bone hit a line drive to pitcher Grace Cobbs, who fired it to third baseman Faythe Goins, catching the runner off guard and off base. Goins then threw a rocket to Rachel Hanna at first and got the runner there.

“We’ve seen other schools make that play against us, but we’ve never been able to do that,” Beasley said of the triple/double play. “It just shows how much they have grown as they are doing things that before could have only been dreamed about.”

The action seemed to inspire the Skyhawks, who put five runs on the board in the bottom of the second. Hanna doubled down the right center gap, and catcher Parker Herring’s sacrifice allowed the speedy senior to score. Junior Caroline Harris was hit by a pitch, freshmen Sydney Beasley and Caroline Penland walked, and a run was forced in when senior Brooks Burnside was also pelted.

Then Goins unleashed a triple to the right field fence clearing the bases.

The Falcons answered in the top of the third off new pitcher Goins when Linda Keen singled and scored on a Morgan Tyler hit to right field. Hammond also put another run on the board in the bottom of the inning off new pitcher Rebecca Pope, and the Skyhawks kept chipping away, adding runs in the third, fourth, and fifth.

Defensively, the Skyhawks made some significant plays with its outfielders catching some deep fly balls that would have meant multiple runs for the Falcons.

In particular, Ben Lippen head coach Jody Failoni complimented Anne Elise Goudelock, who hung onto a well–hit fly ball despite falling and doing a back flip.

“The right fielder made some excellent plays, and the pitcher (Goins) was great,” Failone. “We had some good pitching from Amanda Boyd and Rebecca Pope, but Hammond had some extra base hits that hurt us.”

Cobbs got the win, and Goins recorded the save for Hammond.

Next up for both teams – a matchup with powerhouse Cardinal Newman. Hammond hosted the Cardinals on April 16 (see recap in this sports section).