Venkataraman, DiOrio, Arndt key Valley wins
Junior does it all in win over Saints
PAWTUCKET – Because of junior righty Vanessa Venkataraman’s heavy workload the previous few days, North Smithfield High skipper Paul Mercier contemplated not starting his ace in a key Division II clash against St. Raphael Academy on Tuesday afternoon.
“We were boarding the bus for the ride down here, and I looked her square in the eye,” he said. “I told her I wanted to give her some rest, and she said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ She was visibly upset, but she had pitched seven innings on Saturday (in a 10-3 victory over previously-unbeaten South Kingstown), and seven more (Monday during a 17-8 pasting of Prout).
“I thought she needed a break, but she told me, ‘Look, I’m a pitcher, and this is what pitchers do. I want the ball.’” he added. “I couldn’t argue with that. She’s so into it, she could coach the game. She knows what we (as coaches) know.”
Mercier acquiesced, and it’s a good thing he did. The Northmen needed a collective yeoman’s effort in squeaking past the Saints, 7-5, before perhaps 50 fans at the Hank Soar Complex.
Naturally, Venkataraman didn’t disappoint. In the circle, she surrendered 12 hits and two walks while fanning six in a complete-game outing.
She also finished 4-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored to propel her squad to 11-1 overall and 101 in league action.
Naturally, she had help, as freshman batterymate Alex Ledger went 2-for-3 with a walk, double, RBI and run; sophomore Liz Jalette 2-for-4 with two stolen bags and an RBI; senior tri-captain Lorenza O’Donnell 2-for-4 with a run; and sophomore Alyssa Murray 0-for-2 with a pair of passes and an RBI.
Defensively, Jalette starred at third base, manufacturing three putouts and four assists, accounting for seven of the initial 18 outs before the seventh.
Venkataraman’s performance was not lost on losing head coach Ron LaBree, whose Saints fell to 5-3 in DII play.
“I just love that kid,” he stated emphatically. “She’s strong, she fights for every out. You could tell she was getting tired late in the game, but she kept battling. She’s got that ‘IT’ factor that you just can’t teach. She’s gameready all the time, and you just can’t rattle her. She can hit, too.”
For SRA, senior Lexi Sargo closed at 4-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored, while senior captain Haley Howarth (triple) and junior Ashley Bullen (double) both went 2-for-4 with an RBI; freshman Saylor Costa 1-for3 with an RBI and run; and junior Kaylee Contraras 1for-3 with an RBI.
All told, the Saints racked up 12 hits in all, one more than NS, though the visitors gathered them in more crucial situations, and it showed in the top of the first inning. Leadoff batter Venkataraman roped a hit to center off of sophomore righthander Sydney Charette, frosh Hope Trowbridge reached on a fielders’ choice and O’Donnell knocked a single down the left-field stripe to load the bags.
Ledger then bounded to third baseman Cameille Keith, who fired to the plate to get the lead runner, but Jalette’s opposite-field, ground hit to right plated Trowbridge, and Murray’s bases-jammed pass scored O’Donnell for the 2-0 advantage.
The Saints failed to take advantage of Bullen’s slapped two-bagger to start the back half, and NS gained the 3-0 lead in the second. Not surprisingly, Venkataraman drilled a oneout triple to deep left, then scored on Trowbridge’s sacrifice fly to center.
LaBree’s bunch, however, tightened the gap with a pair in the bottom half. With one down, junior Micayla Bourski beat out an infield single and took second on Sargo’s infield hit, but the former was thrown out at third on senior Cameille Keith’s fielder’s choice.
Contreras followed with an RBI ground hit to center, and Bullen’s opposite-field single pushed home Keith from second.
The Northmen tacked on another in the third to extend the lead to 4-2 when Ledger smoked a lead double to the left-center hole, moved to third on Jalette’s hit to left and scored when Murray reached on a dropped pop at second. Jalette later stole second and took third on sophomore Jillian DePari’s groundout, yet Charette whiffed frosh Kayla Butler to skirt further damage.
SRA nevertheless fought back to knot it at 4-4. Howarth began the surge with a triple to center and immedi- ately scored on Costa’s hit. Sophomore Liz Fera pinchran for the backstop, sprinted to third on senior Cassandra Yany’s single up the middle and scored on Sargo’s perfectly-executed suicidesqueeze bunt.
SRA nevertheless stranded two of its nine baserunners in that frame.
NS played small ball in retaking the lead in the fourth, as Venkataraman beat out a bunt, hustled to second on Trowbridge’s bounder to third and came in on Ledger’s “bleeder” single to left.
It created a 7-4 bulge in the fifth following a Murray pass and senior Jen Pasquariello’s fielder’s choice. Sophomore Jillian DePari filled the bags after reaching on a dropped infield fly, and Venkataraman’s hit to right plated both.
The Saints answered with one in the back half, Costa drawing a leadoff “freebie,” taking second on Yany’s swinging-bunt out and eventually scoring on Sargo’s twoout single to left. Sargo actually had raced to third when Pasquariello missed the cutoff player, and Keith walked, but the hosts stranded both.
Howarth and Sargo each mustered two-out hits in the sixth and seventh, respectively, but the Northmen eked out the win.
“We gave them too many extra outs, that’s it,” LaBree noted later. “I thought we hit the ball well, and it was nice to see Lexi come around. We got her in the gym the other and tweaked her hands, lowered them as she was uppercutting it. We leveled her swing, and it paid dividends here.
“Like I said, we hit, and we didn’t quit, but we kept having to play catch-up,” he continued. “We just have to cut down on our mistakes (four errors, excluding those of the mental variety), and we’ll be fine. North Smithfield is one of the better teams in our division, so for us to keep it close and hang with them, that’s a positive.
“Now we know we can play against the better teams.”
Offered Mercier: “We buckled down; we knew we deserved better. I kind of lost it in the fifth after we made some errors of the mind. I told the kids, ‘Hey, they’re not going away. You’ve got to go out and take it!’ All year long I’ve been telling them we have to remain focused for seven innings, that we can’t play five or six, because that’s not going to cut it.
“In our post-game huddle, I told them I was upset because of the cerebral stuff,” he added. “I also said that they had buttoned it up defensively and focused more. They understood what was going on. On a good note, they seemed more upset than I was. Girls were telling me they can’t wait to get back to practice.”