Fairhaven's Laela Pepin held visiting Case to two hits and helped her cause with a pair of hits and three RBIs as the Blue Devils blanked the Cardinals 10-0 in SCC softball action Wednesday, avenging an early season loss.

Mike Thomas Herald News Sports Editor

FAIRHAVEN - Fairhaven's Laela Pepin held visiting Case to two hits and helped her cause with a pair of hits and three RBIs as the Blue Devils blanked the Cardinals 10-0 in SCC softball action Wednesday, avenging an early season loss.

Case defeated Fairhaven 9-4 in early April. Both teams have one loss in the SCC small division.

Fairhaven staked Pepin to a 2-0 lead in the first inning and that was all she needed as she allowed a single to Chloe Bibeau in the first inning and a seventh-inning single by Alisa Feilhauer. Pepin struck out five and walked one.

"We put the ball in play, but they were very sharp on defense," said Case coach Michaela Goncalves. "We weren't mentally sharp on defense today."

Those two Fairhaven runs in the first inning came despite having only one hit. The Devils, however, scored three more times in the third inning on four hits, including a two-run Pepin single.

Elyse Rebelo extended the Fairhaven lead to 7-0 with a two-run single in the fourth. Fairhaven finished with 12 hits against two Case pitchers.

The Cardinals just couldn't generate any offense against Pepin, who allowed just three baserunners after the first inning.

"I don't know if we were overconfident coming into this game after beating them last time," Goncalves said. "I always tell them not to do that because it's a brand new slate when we play a team for the second time. I know Fairhaven has been hot coming in. They lost a tough 1-0 game to D-R yesterday, but have been playing very well."

Case nearly got on the board in the seventh when Kylie Lecomte was hit by a pitch with two outs, but was thrown out at the plate for the final out after Feilhauer's single to center.

"We've got a game (Thursday)," said Goncalves. "We get to bounce back from this one."

Cassidy Vuolo and Rebelo both finished with three hits for Fairhaven.