Merrimack shuts out Winnacunnet

MERRIMACK - The Merrimack High School softball team scored five runs in the first inning and freshman pitcher Brittany Camara struck out eight in a 7-0 win over Winnacunnet on Wednesday.

Camara retired 11 batters in a row at one point, and didn’t allow a runner to get beyond second base until the sixth inning. Tory Hoemke added a two-run single in the first inning and Rebecca Jolly scored two runs for the ’Hawks.

Camara led off the bottom of the first with a single and back-to-back walks to Jolly and Rachel Bohannan loaded the bases. Bri Demers made the first out of the inning, but her groundout drove in Camara, and Olivia Kerouac was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Jess Shananhan followed with an infield single, scoring Jolly, and Kalyn Trotter walked to plate Bohannan.

Hoemke’s single added two more, scoring Kerouac and Shanahan, and put Merrimack up 5-0, a lead that proved to be plenty for Camara, who allowed just five hits and walked two in seven innings.

Merrimack added two more in the fourth, when Jolly led off with a single, stole second and scored on a double by Bohannan. A flyout to right by Demers allowed Bohannan to advance to third and she scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-0.

Winnacunnet threatened to get on the board in the sixth, putting runners on second and third with one out, and the seventh, loading the bases, but Camara left the runners stranded.