Softball: Canton Falls to Stoughton, 4-0

The first time the , Stoughton came away with an 11-6 win, aided by multiple Canton errors.

In the rematch, the Canton defense was more sound, but the Bulldogs’ bats couldn’t string enough hits together against Stoughton pitcher Jess Olans, losing to the Black Knights 4-0 at home Monday afternoon.

Pitcher Jess Olans led Stoughton, tossing a complete-game shutout, allowing just four hits and two walks over seven innings, while striking out two. She helped her own cause at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a double and two RBI.

“She did an awesome job," Canton Coach Ed Amico said of Olans’ performance. “She mixed up her pitches well and her placement was great. We were making contact but weren’t hitting it with power.”

“The heart and soul of a softball team is the pitcher and the catcher,” Stoughton Coach Janet Sullivan added. “You have to give a lot of credit to Molly Zuk, she’s behind the plate, she’s calling a great game.

Stoughton improves to 9-9 with the win, while Canton falls to 3-12. The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for Canton, but the Bulldogs can still make the postseason tournament with a win against Boston Latin Academy.

Stoughton got out to the early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. With two outs, Olans singled and advanced to third on two passed balls. Nicole Beauregard brought Olans home with a RBI single in the next at-bat.

Olivia Murphy and Olivia Kenyon each got a hit off Olans in the bottom of the first inning, but Stoughton’s senior pitcher got out of the jam. Canton wouldn’t get another hit until the sixth inning.

The Black Knights added to their lead in the third inning, again scoring with two outs, when Olans singled home Bailey Olsen.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Canton put together their best chance to score and get back in the game, but Olans again got out of the jam. With one out, Kenyon singled up the middle and Sam Sullivan followed with a single to the left side of the infield, but the next two batters were retired to end the threat.

Stoughton added some insurance in the top of the seventh. Megan Guerard, Olsen and Colleen Flaherty all reached to load the bases with no outs. Jordan Angelos hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Guerard and after a long at-bat, Olans doubled to leftfield to bring home Olsen.

With the rain starting to pickup, Canton went down in order in the bottom of the seventh.

Kenyon pitched well in the loss, allowing four runs over seven innings, sending the Black Knights down in order in the second and fifth innings.

Even with the loss, Amico was impressed with the improvement on defense.

“We had a two game winning streak going into this game; we beat two teams that have previously beaten us because we drastically cut down on the errors,” he said. “Yeah, we need to get our bats on the ball more, but defensively they’re doing phenomenal.”