Laurel's Regan Green kicks door open and slams it shut

Regan Green opened the door with a grand slam home run in the bottom of the third inning and slammed it shut, hurling the last five innings as the Laurel Bulldogs blanked the visiting Cape Henlopen softball team 7-0 April 11 at the Laurel Little League complex off Woodland Ferry Road.

“It’s the cleanest game we’ve played this season," said the relentlessly upbeat Cape coach Jeff Evans. “One bad inning and a couple of opportunities we didn’t convert, and that was the ball game.”

Tiara Duffy, 3 for 3 on the day, opened the game with a walk and reached third with no outs on a steal and overthrow. Cape executed a safety squeeze, but the Big Train stayed at the station, electing not to ramble home on the throw to first.

“Big T always breaks, but she didn’t like her chances; it’s her call,” Evans said. Cape lost another run in the top of the third on a bang-bang tag play at home plate. Umpire Tony DeFazio - the best in the business - called the runner out.

The wheels came off the wagon for Cape in the bottom of the third when freshman pitcher Riley Shields hit a batter with the bases loaded, forcing in a run. Next, a three-foot spinning bunt in the dirt threatened to go foul but didn’t, and the score was 2-0.

And then Regan Green lofted a fly ball to left field that Alexis Burger appeared to have lined up, but it cleared the fence for a grand slam home run.

“I knew when it got up in the wind that it was out,” Evans said. “I live in Laurel and coached a lot of games in this ballpark.”

Cape has played well in the early season but now sits at 0-3.

The Vikings hosted Dover April 16.