McGrath carries LA
Dominates O’Bryant in City League final
This time around, the hare beat the tortoise.
Olivia McGrath’s windmill speed dominated on the mound as Latin Academy rolled to a 7-2 win against O’Bryant for the Lady Dragons’ 12th consecutive Boston City League title yesterday at Simmons’ Daly Field.
The Keene State-bound senior right-hander fanned a career-high 19 batters and earned her fourth consecutive BCL championship win on the mound.
In a game of contrasting pitching styles, McGrath topped a strong effort by O’Bryant senior Maggie Fortune, whose slow-arcing style stymied Latin Academy for most of the game.
“Probably the equivalent of seeing a knuckleball pitcher in baseball. (Fortune) wasn’t very fast, but she was around the plate and came in at a different angle, so we were awkward at the plate,” Latin Academy coach Rocco Zizza said. “At this level, a pitcher can dominate, and (McGrath) was dominant.”
The Lady Dragons got on the board in the top of the second inning when McGrath doubled to left, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored easily on a grounder to third for a 1-0 lead.
Latin Academy, which secured its program-record 20th win of the season, scored two more in the third as Shantary Pimentel (3-for-4, two doubles, two runs) and Mackenzie Theriault laced back-toback, one-out doubles. McGrath, who was 2-for4 and reached base three times, delivered again with an RBI single that scored Theriault to make it 3-0.
“We’ve faced so many different pitchers, so it’s just sticking to your mechanics, just staying back, doing what you know how to do best,” McGrath said of her approach at the plate. “This was our hardest (BCL championship) and the closest, and it’s all because of O’Bryant. They had the spirit, the drive, and it made us play harder.”
Up 3-0, McGrath faced some trouble in the bottom of the fourth when O’Bryant’s Madison Theriault led off with a double and Maeve Fittz followed with an RBI single to break up the shutout. Casey Shoula later hit a liner to right that dropped in and plated Fittz to make it 3-2.
But McGrath, who struck out 11 of the first 12 batters she faced, settled down in the fifth, striking out the side on nine pitches.
Latin Academy (20-2) gave McGrath a big cushion by scoring three times in the sixth. The righthander struck out the side in the seventh to finish off O’Bryant.
“O’Bryant was definitely a hard team, but in the state tournament, you are going to face a lot of teams with a lot more resources,” said McGrath, whose team has a chance to be a No. 1 seed in the tournament. “It gave me a lot of confidence that my team behind me has been awesome this season and (helps) break my nerves down.”
Sophomores Anastasia Bessler (her 10th) and Brianna Nogeria (grand slam in the sixth) homered as Mystic Valley (17-3) defeated Northeast, 16-3, in a Commonwealth Athletic Conference clash.
In a nonleague tilt, Lauren Sablone drove in two runs to lead Austin Prep (18-2) past Peabody, 3-1.
Girls lacrosse
Lily Kuhns made 14 saves and Rachel Alexander scored four goals to lead No. 16 Gloucester (10-6) to its first tournament win in program history, holding off No. 17 Mystic Valley, 1714, in a Div. 2 North preliminary-round game.
Ocean Crawley Sweeney netted six goals and Ellie Wright tallied four to power seventh-seeded Swampscott (16-1) past No. 10 Essex Tech, 16-1.