SRA fails to execute late in D-II defeat
JOHNSTON — The No. 10 St. Raphael softball team’s playoff defeats were eerily similar.
Just like in last week’s winners’ bracket quarterfinal defeat to No. 2 Mount St. Charles, St. Raphael sophomore pitcher Sydney Charette allowed No. 6 Johnston to scratch across three runs early in Thursday afternoon’s Division II losers’ bracket contest at Mazzulla Field inside Johnston Memorial Park.
And, just like in last week’s loss to the Mounties, the Saints proved to be their own worst enemy on the bases. With the game-tying run on first base and with no outs in the sixth inning, three different Saints made mistakes, allowing Johnston to turn a double play and secure a 3-1 victory to advance to Saturday’s losers’ bracket final at RIC.
“We didn’t execute – that’s it,” St. Raphael coach Ron LaBree said. “We didn’t execute. We didn’t hit when we had to. We came out a little flat and I think they’re all a little tired. We’ve played five road games in the last week and a half. We’ve spent more time on the bus than at home. Johnston’s a good team and they hit the ball well. They’re a strong team.”
The Saints entered the top of the sixth inning trailing by two runs, but Taylor Moreau picked up where she left off Wednesday against North Smithfield with a single to center.
Casandra Yanny attempted to move the junior into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, but the throw to first went into the outfield to put runners on the corners.
LaBree said Lexi Sargo’s job was to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but she missed a Madison Plouffe pitch. Next, Yanny was supposed to get into a rundown, but she was tagged out by shortstop Jordan Moretti at second base. Moreau froze at third and was thrown out to end the threat.
“That’s not the way that play was suppose to happen,” LaBree said. “We were trying to get the bunt and the girls know that if the throw goes down to second, you have to get into a rundown so we can get a run home. We get tagged out at second and third and the play is over.”
“We were going to throw the girl out at second because we were giving up the run for an out,” Johnston coach Manny DaCosta said. “We wanted to get rid of the rally and clear the bases. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to get both of them.”
St. Raphael (12-9 Division II) came up a victory short of playing at Rhode Island College for the second time in the playoffs. The 2015 Division II champions struggled to hit Plouffe, who bounced back from a bad performance at RIC on Saturday against the Mounties.
The only Saint with more than one hit was junior centerfielder Ashley Bullen, who had two hits and an RBI. Senior All-State infielder Haley Howarth finished her superb career with one hit in three at-bats.
“Our goal was to get seven wins and make the playoffs,” LaBree said. “We sent three teams home – the No. 1 seed, No. 3 and No. 7. We did everything on the road, so I’m proud of them. The kids started having fun late in the season. There was no pressure and they just played.”
Johnston (16-6) will be back at RIC just a week after suffering a 10-0 five-inning defeat to the Mounties. The Panthers will either get a third shot at Mount or play No. 4 Barrington.
“We beat Mount once, but that last game was tough,” DaCosta said. “Barrington beat us 5-nothing early in the season. I didn’t think we were there yet when we played them, but we’re there now. We’ll give those teams a battle.”
After St. Raphael wasted Bullen’s leadoff single in the first inning, the road side grabbed the lead in the second when Plouffe issued back-to-back two-out walks to Cameille Keith and Kaylee Contreras. Bullen cracked a single off of the pitcher and up the middle to plate Keith.
Johnston answered with its three runs in the back half of the inning. Emily Raposo (single), Samantha Febus (single) and Plouffe (fielder’s choice) loaded the bases with two outs for Moretti. The three-sport star singled in a pair of runs and Lauren Civetti followed with an RBI single.
Charette pitched another solid game for the Saints. The sophomore allowed three runs for the fourth straight contest, as she allowed nine hits and worked around three errors.
Plouffe set down 10 straight batters from the second through the fifth inning before Taylor Troiano and Howarth hit back-to-back singles. Saylor Costa flew out to end the inning before the Saints ran themselves out of the game in the sixth.
“We told the girls they had to move up in the box because we weren’t making good contact,” LaBree said. “We just didn’t execute.”