Mounties mop up Saints
Mountie senior dominates D-II contest vs. Saints at plate, in circle
Mount St. Charles easily routs rival St. Raphael Academy
PAWTUCKET – Moments before this Division II “Battle of the Catholic Schools” on Thursday afternoon, St. Raphael Academy skipper Ron LaBree explained to his troops just how formidable a foe Mount St. Charles would be.
“I told them Mount was a very good team, and that (the result) would tell us exactly where we stand at this point in the season,” he stated.
Turns out, MSC proved stronger than either LaBree or even Mounties’ head coach Cliff Matthews had thought.
The visitors delivered an 18-hit barrage, five of them for extra bases, and outslugged the Saints, 15-6, before a modest crowd at the Hank Soar Softball Complex.
All but one of Matthews’ top six batters in his lineup produced more than two hits, and senior righty Taylor Newcomb led the surge. Not only did she finish 3-for-4 with two triples, two RBI and three runs scored, but also gained the win in the circle. There she scattered six hits and four walks while whiffing a quintet as the Mounties improved to 5-1 in league play and 5-2 overall.
Other offensive mainstays included senior Emily D’Abrosca (4-for-5, RBI, four runs); classmate Marissa Santoro (3-for-5, double, stolen base, five RBI,
two runs); sophomore Kaitlyn D’Abrosca (2-for-4, sacrifice bunt, two robberies, three runs); senior Shea Kelliher (2-for-5, two RBI); fellow senior Skylar O’Connell (1-for-5, RBI, run); junior Riley Mulligan (1-for-2, walk, RBI); frosh Victoria Young (1-for-5, double, run); and senior Emily Cournoyer (1for-3, RBI).
“They just crushed the ball, absolutely crushed it; even their pinch-hitters were rapping it,” LaBree stated after his squad fell to 4-2 overall and in D-II action. “If you look at the book, most of their outs (eight in all) were on deep flyballs; there weren’t a lot of groundouts (nine), which shows you just how hard they were hitting it.
“Every run they scored after the second (excepting one) came with two outs, so they were getting timely hits, too,” he added. “They didn’t surprise me at all. That’s a Division I-caliber team, (as) they were in D-I last year. They’re well-coached, they had discipline at the plate and when (sophomore righthander Sydney Charette) laid one in there, they walloped it.
“We weren’t making errors; they were all drilling the ball.”
Matthews confessed his crew hadn’t belted the ball like that all spring.
“No, we haven’t, but we’ve been doing a lot of work in that area,” he said. “If you noticed, (LaBree) had his outfielders playing very deep, so we made some adjustments in the batter’s box and it worked out well for us.
“We hit it really well,” he continued. “I knew we were capable of this kind of thing. These are the most runs and hits we’ve had all season, but I will say something about St. Ray’s; they didn’t quit. Their speed gave us fits. Our speed is improving, and that just shows we’ve been working on that, too. We were able to set up some rallies with our baserunning, and that in turn set up our hitters.
“It seemed like we had runners in scoring position all day long.”
Mount scored at least a run in every inning, but salted away the triumph with five in the seventh. Ahead 10-6, SRA hurler Charette collected two easy outs, but Emily D’Abrosca ignited that flurry with a swinging-bunt hit. Kid sister Kaitlyn pushed her to second on a ground single to center, and Santoro drilled a two-run double to deep left to plate both.
O’Connell followed with a hit to left to plate Santoro, and Newcomb walked, before O’Connell’s pinch-runner, freshman Isabella Nadeau, scored on Kelliher’s hard hit to left. Newcomb eventually came around on Mulligan’s lone single down the line in left.
That gave the Mounties the 11-run cushion that iced it.
Still, the Saints remained close at the outset. After Emily D’Abrosca led off the tilt with a triple to deep left field, an errant throw allowed her to score.
LaBree’s bunch manufactured a pair in the bottom of the first to snag the 2-1 lead. Junior Ashley Bullen walked, sprinted to third on sophomore Taylor Troiano’s sacrifice bunt and score when senior captain Haley Howarth scorched a single down the third-base stripe. After stealing second, Howarth eventually raced in on frreshman Saylor Costa’s groundout to second.
Like it had in the first, Newcomb opened the second with a triple to the right-center gap, and Kelliher plated her with a suicide-squeeze bunt.
In the third, the elder D’Abrosca ripped a leadoff hit to center, took second on her sister’s sacrifice bunt and – with two retired – moved to third on a passed ball. She galloped in after O’Connell reached on an infield miscue, and Newcomb’s second straight three-bagger plated her from first for the 4-1 advantage.
The Saints seemed ready to pounce on Newcomb in the bottom half. With one out, Troiano knocked an opposite-field single to right and Howarth drew a pass, though Newcomb struck out Costa and forced junior Taylor Moreau to ground to third.
MSC tacked on three more in the fourth, courtesy of Young’s leadoff double, Emily D’Abrosca’s RBI infield hit, Kaitlyn’s ability to reach on an error and Santoro’s two-run punch to left.
Trailing 7-2, SRA answered – and then some. Junior Micayla Bourski drew a leadoff walk, senior Alex Sargo singled up the middle and classmate Cameille Keith’s sacrifice bunt moved them into scoring position.
Junior Kaylee Contreras pushed across Bourski on a fielder’s choice, and Bullen’s single to left loaded the bases. Troiano delivered a two-run hit to straightaway center, and Howath’s sacrifice fly to left plated Bullen to slice the deficit to a scant 7-6.
Newcomb, however, started the fifth with a bloop single to left, moved to second when Mulligan walked and scored on Cournoyer’s opposite-field bash to right, but the Saints skirted the issue when Contreras robbed Emily D’Abrosca of an extra-base hit with a stellar overthre-shoulder snag in left.
The Mount added two more in the sixth on Santoro’s RBI single and Newcomb’s runscoring groundout to second. That gave them a 10-6 cushion, and SRA failed to respond.
“I thought Ashley Bullen (1for-3, walk, two runs) really hit the ball well, as did Taylor Troiano,” LaBree stated. “It’s the best I’ve seen Ash hit yet. Hey, one-through-nine we’re OK with the bats. If we do that against other teams, we should be alright. They’re a very good team, like I said.”
It won’t get any easier for the Mounties, as they will host Barrington at 3:30 p.m., Saturday.
“They’ve only given up four runs in league play all season, and they have a terrific pitcher in (Paige) Concannon,” Matthews said. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us.”