Sophia Barbosa scoffed at Tuesday’s conditions.
She dismissed the wind and cold.
The junior third baseman had one of Hanover Central’s three home runs and added an RBI double as the Wildcats posted a 9-3 Greater South Shore Conference win against host Wheeler.
“We were all just pumped up,” Barbosa said. “We were all giddy and chatting on the bus, and it carried out here. We wanted to get out quick. We were all ready to play.”
Barbosa cracked a three-run homer to right field with two outs in the second inning to give Hanover (12-2, 8-0) the lead. She initially wasn’t sure if she connected for her first of the season.
“I felt like I popped it up, like I was going to get out — that’s how all my home runs feel,” said Barbosa, who had four last season. “I wasn’t looking for any particular pitch. I was just looking to hit the ball consistently.”
In addition to No. 8 hitter Barbosa, No. 3 Alyssa Gill lined a two-run homer to left in the sixth and leadoff hitter Skylar Barnett pulled a two-run homer to right-center in the seventh. The Wildcats collected 13 hits, including six for extra bases.
“What’s so awesome about this team is that it could be any one of them on a given day,” Hanover coach Amanda Suarez said. “The most impressive thing is that we don’t swing for the fence, we swing for base hits and home runs just happen.
“This was expected because this is who we are. We hit the ball. We were aggressive and that was back to our game plan. We had a couple games where we came out and put runs on the board slowly, but this was more our style of ball.”
Hanover and Wheeler (8-6, 4-3) played Friday in a rescheduled game, with the Wildcats edging the Bearcats 2-1 in eight innings. The quick rematch had an effect, with Marley Hanlon again pitching for Hanover and Julia Taylor doing likewise for Wheeler.
“As far as Julia goes, they just saw too much of her,” Bearcats coach Maggie O’Shea said. “The home runs that were hit were missed pitches, and they got the best of her. That’s what it came down to. Our bats were here, our defense was here, just a couple missed pitches.”
On her 17th birthday, Hanlon (10-1) didn’t allow a run after the third inning, also going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. With Wheeler having scored a run to draw to 4-3 in the third, she struck out back-to-back batters with the bases loaded to end the Bearcats threat.
“It just took a little while for her to get adjusted,” Suarez said. “It’s hard because this team just saw her last week, and the same thing for their pitcher. You’re trying to throw them off-balance, they just saw you, it’s cold out again, it’s tough to get into a groove. But she settled down.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff