Mounties dominate Panthers; No. 1 Northmen take loss
Newcomb fires second straight shutout in blowout win
PROVIDENCE — It would be easy to focus on the 10 runs and 15 hits the No. 2 Mount St. Charles softball team accrued in just four innings of work Saturday afternoon against No. 6 Johnston in the Division II winners’ bracket semifinals at Rhode Island College.
But the real reason the Mounties are in a winners’ bracket final of any kind for the first time since beating Cranston West in the D-I winners’ bracket final in 2011 is the pitching of senior Taylor Newcomb and the team’s air-tight defense.
For the second time in 24 hours, Newcomb tossed a complete-game shutout, while Victoria Young and Marissa Santoro were the architects of a pair of double plays in an errorless performance in a 10-0 five-inning victory over the overmatched Panthers.
“Oh my God, no, I couldn’t imagine a better game,” Newcomb said after going 3for-3 with three RBIs while allowing just two hits in the circle. “I’ve never been to RIC, so to get a mercy is crazy. We just wanted to play clean softball and we knew if we did that, hopefully we could get it done.”
“A mercy win in the winners’ bracket semifinals is never expected,” Mount St. Charles coach Cliff Matthews said. “Our defense today was just as good as it was Friday. We did everything right in this game. We hit the ball really well and we’ve made our living this season hitting the ball.”
Mount St. Charles (16-3) probably won’t score 10 runs in four innings in Monday night’s winners’ bracket final against No. 4 Barrington at RIC at 7 p.m. Barrington ace Paige Concannon appears to be the healthiest she’s been all season, as the junior has allowed just one run in a pair of playoff games.
When the two teams met during the regular season, the Mounties handed the Eagles their first loss of the campaign, 6-2, on April 29 thanks to four hits from senior centerfielder Emily D’Abrosca and five combined RBIs from fellow seniors Santoro and Sky O’Connell.
“We know Paige is going to bring it and historically we’ve done well against solid pitching,” Matthews said. “If we get timely hits and play defense like this, I like our chances. You never know what you’re going to get.”
Johnston advanced to RIC thanks to a wild, 14-12 victory over No. 3 South Kingstown in the winners’ bracket quarterfinal. The Panthers continued to struggle in the circle Saturday, as starter Madison Plouffe was replaced in the nine-run fourth inning by freshman Jenni Aubin.
The Panthers begin the road back to RIC Monday afternoon in Newport against No. 5 Rogers, which crushed No. 8 Portsmouth Saturday afternoon.
Plouffe worked around firstinning hits by Kaitlyn D’Abrosca and O’Connell to keep the game scoreless through two innings. The Mounties, however, broke through in the third when Emily D’Abrosca crushed a triple to the fence and scored on sophomore Talia Williams’ third double in the last two days.
Williams, for the first time all season, batted third in the lineup with the speedy D’Abrosca sisters occupying the top two spots in the lineup.
“The thing that might surprise people is we had Talia at No. 3 because we had been having her and Kaitlyn alternating as lefties at No. 2,” Matthews said. “We evaluate the book and we’ll look at the defensive sets for Barrington and we’ll make a decision about the lineup.”
After the Mounties turned their second double play in as many innings to hold on to their lead, Plouffe simply couldn’t miss a bat in the fourth. Newcomb had a pair of hits and drove in three runs in the inning.
The big hit came off the bat of pinch hitter Mackenzie Morin, who drove in two runs with the bases loaded. Newcomb added a two-run double to ensure the game would end two innings early.
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