Lions stop Novans
Woonsocket can’t solve Lincoln pitcher
NORTH SMITHFIELD – During Monday afternoon’s practice session, North Smithfield High skipper Paul Mercier paid particular attention to solidifying his defense ahead of his squad’s Division II showdown against pesky Johnston.
He’s hardly clairvoyant, but he figured the Northmen would need such on Tuesday, and his inkling proved correct. His girls failed to generate the same kind of potent offense it had in early contests, but did exhibit stellar play in the field to eke out a 5-4 victory over the Panthers at Pat Dowling Memorial Field.
“You know, I knew this kind of game was coming, and I prepared them for this day,” Mercier explained after his group collected its 13th straight league win en route to a 13-1 mark (15-1 overall). “I told the girls that this wasn’t the type of game where they could just turn it on with a switch, that we’d have to dig down deep and be ready for a tough, grind-it-out affair.
“I also said that our hitting wasn’t going to bale us out, that we needed to put all the aspects of the game together. We certainly didn’t play our best game, but we did keep it together. For that, I give them credit.”
Junior righty Vanessa Venkataraman didn’t pitch like her usual self, yielding a season-high 11 hits, all four runs (two earned) and two walks while fanning three, but did enough to keep the Johnston bats relatively silent over the final three frames (four singles, walk, run).
To be fair, eventual losing hurler Maddie Plouffe assembled an admirable performance in the circle, allowing nine hits, five runs (two earned) and three passes with four strikeouts, though the Panthers fell to 9-4 in league action (10-4 overall).
The Northmen notched what proved to be the game-clinching run in the bottom of the fifth. With one down, freshman catcher Alex Ledger roped a hit to center, and classmate/pinch-runner Gianna Capracotta pinch-ran for her.
She immediately hustled to third on sophomore Liz Jalette’s opposite-field single to right, then raced in when junior shortstop Jordan Moretti bobbled sophomore Alyssa Murray’s grounder.
Freshman Hope Trowbridge paced the offense, going 2-for-3 with a dinger, RBI and run scored, while Murray finished 1-for-3 with an RBI and run; Venkataraman 1-for-3 with an RBI; 10th-grader Jillian DePari 1-for-3 with a run; and senior Jen Pasquariello and frosh Kayla Butler 1-for-3.
Capracotta never batted, but recorded two runs with a stolen bag.
Mercier’s crew got off to a good start when Trowbridge walloped the first pitch she saw off the yellow protective, plastic piping and over the fence in center in the back half of the first. It came with one out, and the tilt only five pitches old, and proved to be her first varsity blast.
Unfortunately for the hosts, that lead didn’t last long, as junior leadoff batter Kat St. Angelo drilled a shot just over the fence in center to knot it.
The Panthers threatened again in the third, as Plouffe knocked a single to left and Moretti reached on a bunt. Junior Lauren Civetti then tried to bunt them up, but the backstop Ledger fired a strike to third baseman Jalette to force out the lead runner.
Sophomore Sophia DaCosta then bounded to second, though Butler did a supreme job getting to the base before Civetti, and – with runners at the corners – Johnston head coach Manny DaCosta signaled a double-steal attempt, and Jalette again fired home for the 25-2 putout.
The visitors nevertheless broke through with a pair in the fourth to gain a 3-1 cushion. With one retired, St. Angelo and Scott rapped consecutive singles. And, sophomore Emily Raposo in the batter’s box, Ledger tried to pick off Scott at first, but the throw sailed down the right-field stripe. On the miscue, the homeplate umpire signaled St. Angelo home and Scott to third.
She eventually came in on Raposo’s groundout to senior shortstop Lorenza O’Donnell, who closed with four putouts and three assists.
In the bottom half, NS regained the lead with a trio. Ledger walked, and courtesy runner Capracotta quickly robbed second, took third on Jallete’s groundout and scored on Murray’s ground hit to center.
DePari whacked a hit to left and Pasquariello reached on a single to fill the bags, and Butler reached on a grounder to short, one in which Moretti fired wide of the plate.
Murray sprinted home on the miscue, and Venkataraman plated DePari with a sacrifice fly to left.
After the Northmen had given themselves the insurance run in the fifth, they seemed poised to turn it into a blowout an inning later. Butler, Venkataraman and Trowbridge all singled, but Moretti threw Butler out at home.
Alertly, on the same play, catcher Gianna Vizzacco gunned to third to get Venkataraman off the bag. Ledger flew to left as the Northmen failed on the golden opportunity.
In the seventh, Plouffe blooped a single down the left-field line, and Moretti ripped a hit to center. While Moretti stopped between first and second, O’Donnell received the throw, and Butler eventually tagged the baserunner sliding into second. Plouffe nevertheless scored to slice the deficit to 5-4.
Civetti then accepted a pass, and – with two down – Vizzacco singled her to second, placing the go-ahead run at first.
St. Angelo, though, fouled out to Ledger to end it. Despite that, she led the Panthers, going 2-for-4 with the homer, an RBI and two runs.
“I thought Vanessa’s pitch location in the final two innings was very important,” Mercier offered. “They hadn’t been stinging the ball like they had been, so I told her not to worry about trying to strike everyone out, but place it, don’t give them anything good to hit, and she did that.
“We’re lucky to get out of here with a win,” he added. “The big plus, hopefully, is that our defense is coming around.”