NK Riptide Uses Solid Defense To Beat Narragansett

NORTH KINGSTOWN — The pitching and fielding could not have been better for the North Kingstown Riptide girls' 12-and-under softball team on Thursday night in the first night of the Cool August Blast softball tournament in North Kingstown.

Riptide threw a combined no-hitter in five innings en route to a victory over Narragansett, 10-1, at Wilson Park. North Kingstown tallied 12 strikeouts and allowed five Narragansett baserunners.

“The pitchers threw strikes,” Riptide manager George Oliver said. “They threw hard and if they do that all weekend we’ll be in good shape.”

Narragansett struggled to get runners on base and scored its lone run when Hayley Page scored from third on a passed ball, but manager Kelly Babcock knew the skill level was high on some of the teams participating this weekend.

“We’ve actually spent the last couple of days at batting cages,” Babcock said. “We knew we were going to encounter some fierce pitching in this tournament. A couple of the towns, this is what they do. They have an enormous amount of girls to pool from and they really perfect that in a lot of ways.”

North Kingstown and Narragansett were tied 1-1 going into the third inning. Riptide pushed three across in the third, including an RBI groundout by Kiara Oliver and a run via an error when a throw to first base on a routine ground ball got away.

Riptide knocked in five runs in the fourth inning on RBI singles by Oliver, Tara Chatowski and Emma LaRoche and an RBI groundout by Taylor Chatowski. Riptide got its other run when LaRoche scored from third on a wild pitch.

Putting the ball in play was key for North Kingstown, and the pitch selection at the plate has impressed Oliver thus far.

“The girls are doing a great job, even the bottom of our order made good contact tonight,” Oliver said. “If we keep swinging the bats good things happen when you hit the ball.”

Narragansett had a solid night in the field for the most part, minimizing errors and Babcock said the team’s fielding poses as a major strength.

“Very tight group,” Babcock said. “We picked these girls for a reason because they are a tight-knit group and their particular spots on the field. That’s where I think they are their strongest.”

Riptide and Narragansett both play today at Wilson Park, Riptide at 11:30 a.m. and Narragansett at 9:15 a.m. Oliver said he isn’t too worried about pool play at the moment but he thinks if the team played the same as last night it shouldn’t encounter many problems.

“The key is the girls are swinging and if they continue and if the girls are throwing  strikes we’re tough to beat,” Oliver said.

As Narragansett moves forward in the tournament, Babcock hopes that the confidence level rises.

“The girls, from what I think we saw tonight, are going to go into the next game and be overconfident getting in there,” Babcock said. “Because what we just saw, they’re going to be able to really bring it next game. They’re all a great bunch of hitters. 

“The confidence tonight, being the first game, probably hindered them a little bit but I think we’ll see great things from them in the next couple games.”