By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The combination of Shante Curtis and Mechelle Moss was a little too much to handle for the Kingsway Academy Saints as the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine rolled to an easy senior girls softball victory yesterday.

In the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools’ openers for senior girls, the defending champions Big Red Machine steamrolled past the Saints, marching out of Kingsway Academy with an impressive 13-0 whitewashing.

Curtis, getting the starting nod on the mound, allowed just two batters to get on base as she tossed a no-hitter and Moss, starting in shortstop, led the potent offensive attack with a pair of lead off in-the-park home runs. “I think it was pretty good. Being our first game, but didn’t have a lot of practice, but we executed our game plan,” he said.

“We came out with the game plan, executed, had fun and came out with the win.”

Curtis, however, said it was a great feeling to have posted the shut out.

“I haven’t been pitching that long. I just got back on the mound so, for my first game, it was good,” she said. “We hope that we can have another great season and come out with the victory.”

In the first inning, Curtis watched as Marissa Brown got on base after she got struck out, but reached first safely on a wild pitch after SAC’s catcher Shara Sweeting couldn’t hold onto the ball.

After striking out Saints’ catcher Tanecia Simmons, Jordan Khalfani was walked and she and Brown moved to second and third respectively, but they were left there stranded as Curtis struck out the next two batters.

By then, the Big Red Machine had already put five runs on the scoreboard in the top half of the frame, highlighted by Moss’ first lead of in-the-parker. With one out, SAC got four more runs from Sweeting, Mechael Russell, Kyra McKinney and Curtis.

Then in the second, the Big Red Machine extended their lead to 10-0, thanks to Moss’ second in-the-parker. She was followed by two consecutive round-the-plate trips by Taylor Wallis and Sweeting in the same fashion.

Before they were done, Russell and McKinney tacked on two more unearned runs.

“I think we went out there and we played a pretty good game,” said Moss, who is also expected to do some pitching for SAC. “This was just our first game, but I think we played as well as we expected.”

SAC went on to score three more runs in the third inning to secure the abbreviated win.

Sweeting, a second year player for Kingsways Academy, admitted that they could have worked harder.

“We were a little off today, but the next game we will be better,” she promised. “We just need to work a lot more on our team work and being more focused.”