Panther Softball Team Wins Opener

by Gary Danforth
Well, it appears Charlie Weeden’s Hoosick Falls Central School softball team has picked up in 2010 pretty much where it left off in 2009. Behind a dominating one hit, eighteen strikeout performance from the Queen of the Diamond, sophomore pitcher Rachel Quackenbush, and a stifling defense, the Panthers took their season opener 1-0 over a very good Duanesburg Central School team last Saturday. April 10, in the Lansingburgh High School Tournament. I mean Quackenbush was just simply throwing smoke. She looked to be in midseason form as she gave up but one cleanly hit single to centerfield in the fourth inning. The Panther defense and an Eagle error in the first inning allowed HFCS to scratch across the only run they would need. Leadoff hitter and senior shortstop Jenna Priore walked. Freshman second baseman Frankie Pearson and Quackenbush struck out. Junior first baseman Katie Kovage beat out a slow roller to third base. But the Eagle third baseman overthrew first base. Priore, who had stolen second base, scored on the play. That would be all the Panthers and Quackenbush would need. She ended the game the same way she began it. She mowed down the three Eagle hitters she faced with strikeouts. HFCS won 1-0 for their first win of 2010.
Roaming the Outfield: Quackenbush was throwing so much heat that I thought I saw the Panther catcher soaking her glove in ice water between innings. The Panther defense did an excellent job of getting to whatever Duanesburg did manage to get a bat on, which wasn’t much. Trying to hit Quackenbush must be like trying to hit mosquitos with a bat.