The Wilton-Lyndeborough softball team continued its promising start Thursday with a 20-8 run-rule win over rival Sunapee that saw the Warriors jump out to a big lead in the first and then walk off in the fifth.

WLC's big first inning was sparked by the Warriors' energy, something that coach Tom Crowley said was lacking in their recent loss to Newmarket but could be the difference for his team this season.

"I challenged them over the week," Crowley said. "'You guys have got to be confident and bring the energy come Thursday, because that's how we're going to win games.’ Their energy was a lot better today, and their confidence was much better today. They looked very, very solid. They were ready to go. So I was happy with that."

Starting pitcher Kay Bozarth held Sunapee to two runs over 4.2 innings and struck out seven, with catcher Haidyn Paquette calling a good game and stopping everything thrown her way. 

"That first half inning really helped," Crowley said. "Kay was in command today of her pitching, and when she's feeling it, the defense backs her up behind her. I thought we did the right thing with the ball today. We didn't throw it behind the runners too much...That's what we've been really looking to do. We don't want to be giving up something easy because we were panicking. They've been really adjusting to that."

The Warriors backed Bozarth up at the plate as well, scoring 14 runs in the first, where Delaney Dowling (3-3, two RBI), Eva Roy, Kelsey Crouse, Maddie Clough (1-3, two RBI) and Cailin Swett all knocked in runs. McKenna Crouse (2-3, three RBI), Kay Bozarth (2-3, one RBI, three runs) and Naomi Bozarth (3-4, one RBI, three runs) also had big days at the plate.

After the big first inning, a 12-run-rule victory was all but assured, and the Warriors coasted a bit, giving up enough runs to Sunapee that the deficit was cut to 17-8 by the bottom of the fifth, setting up a comeback-like situation for WLC. Both Bozarths knocked in a run in the frame before McKenna Crouse singled in the winning score in walkoff fashion.

"A win is a win," Crowley said. "It doesn't matter the opponent -- all wins in my book feel like a win. So I'm happy with beating them and improving to 2-2." 

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WLC now has two wins over Sunapee and Nute by a combined score of 41-10, a blowout loss to Mascenic and a close loss to Newmarket to put them at .500 for the spring with a lot of winnable games remaining. Crowley is preaching the same thing to himself as a first-year skipper as he is to his team – patience, focus and resilience. 

"It's a progression," Crowley said. "We're not the same team we were in the start of the season and we're not going be the same team [at the end]. As long as we make the playoffs, we can go from there and take it game by game and try to do a little damage. But we have to get there first. We have to take care of our regular season and progress like we want to. It's a day-by-day, week-by-week, game-by-game thing."

WLC plays at Newmarket Monday after press time and then play Mascenic on May 6.