Williams guides Mount to upset road victory
WESTERLY — With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Mount St. Charles hitters Talia Williams, Marissa Tessier and Callie Thibault delivered back-to-back-to-back singles, as the No. 9 Mounties upset No. 8 Westerly, 5-4, in eight innings, in a Division II elimination game at Cimalore Field.
Williams, who was 4-for5, scored on Thibault’s hit for what turned out to be the game-winning run. Westerly’s Alex Mitchell launched a leadoff triple in the eighth, but shortstop Victoria Young threw out the Bulldog at home for the second out of the eighth. Williams produced the assist on the final out to send the Mounties to No. 1 Prout this afternoon in a double-elimination quarterfinal contest.
“You know what?,” Mount St. Charles coach Cliff Matthews said. “If we play hard and we play well, we have a chance to win. I just hope the kids will be ready to go.”
Mount St. Charles (10-8 Division II) grabbed the lead with three runs in the third inning. The big hit came off the bat of senior outfielder Riley Mulligan, who scored Young and Williams with a single.
Tessier, who struck out four and allowed five hits in a complete-game effort, gave up one run in the third and two more in the fourth. The lefty didn’t allow another Bulldog to score over the final four innings.
“She didn’t strike out a lot of batters, but we played good defense behind her,” Matthews said. “If we play rock-solid defense, we’ll be all right.”
Mount St. Charles 003 000 01 – 4 13 2 Westerly 001 200 00 – 3 5 2 Marissa Tessier and Callie Thibault; Allison Northup and Megan Albamonti jbaker@pawtuckettimes.com
PAWTUCKET – St. Raphael Academy skipper Ron LaBree has been saying all spring that he’s been amazed with the talent he’s seen from his freshmen. That’s why he’s started at least two – shortstop Tori Jacques and first baseman Jillian Serra – in most games.
But so pleased was he at the Saints’ ability to finish third overall at the Junior Varsity Tournament this weekend – SRA lost only to eventual champion Cranston West – he decided to give more frosh a go when the varsity club met Narragansett in a state tournament elimination game on Tuesday afternoon.
He chose to start two more ninth-graders, including Kasey Contreras in right field and Myah Rigley at designated player, and they excelled as well during the Saints’ solid 11-1 mercy-rule victory at the Hank Soar Complex.
Umpires called the game with one out in the back half of the fifth inning after SRA had scored its fourth run of the frame, which made it an official 10-run contest.
Serra finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs, while Jacques went 2-for-4 with a stolen bag, RBI and three runs scored; Rigley 0-for-1 with a hit-bypitch, walk, two steals and two runs; and Contreras 0-for-3 with a run.
To be fair, the Saints’ upperclassmen, notably seniors Taylor Moreau and Ashley Bullen, contributed as well. The former closed at 2-for4 with a triple, three RBI and a run while the latter went 1-for-2 with a double, pass, RBI and two runs. Junior Taylor Troiano didn’t have an official at-bat, not with a two walks and a HBP, but she scored thrice.
The hosts also took advantage of what arguably could be considered junior righty Sydney Charette’s finest outing of the campaign. She surrendered only three hits, an earned run and two walks while whiffing a pair, helping SRA improve to 13-5 overall.
The Mariners’ season came to a close at 8-10 overall.
“Offensively, we only had eight hits but most of them were productive,” stated a happy LaBree after the win, one that qualified his contingent for the double-elimination phase of the tourney. For SRA, that begins at 4 p.m. today against Johnston at Mazzulla Field in Johnston Memorial Park.
“Tori’s our freshman leadoff batter and she scored three times, and Jillian had three RBI,” he offered. “We started Myah Rigley at DP and she got on base all day. We got a lot of production from the younger girls.
“The offense came from all over,” he added. “We’ve started to put more freshmen in because I watched them over the weekend at the JV tournament; Myah was killing it, so I thought she deserved a shot here.
“And Syd, she threw the ball really well. She’s had some rest, so she looked fresh. I thought she threw the outside curve very well, and we threw the change-up to keep (Mariners’ standout senior shortstop) Reilly Clancey off-balance. We were really worried about her because she’s a great player, a super-talented kid.
“She puts the bat on the ball and just smokes it. The last time we faced her, I think she went 3-for-4. She was our main concern on defense – keeping her in check.”
SRA nevertheless gained a 1-0 lead in the opening frame when Tori Jacques ripped a hit to center, took second on Troiano’s sacrifice bunt, reached third on Moreau’s soft hit to center and scored on Serra’s sacrifice fly/line out to a diving sophomore Abigail Foster.
LaBree’s bunch erupted for six more in the second, and it started when Contreras beat out a one-out, infield miscue and junior starter Amelia Beauchemin struck Rigley with a delivery. Bullen then slapped an opposite-field RBI double to left, and Jacques knocked a comebacker to the circle. Beauchemin threw home, but was too late to catch Rigley sliding under the tag, and Troiano walked to juice the bags.
That’s when Moreau crushed a bases-clearing, opposite-field triple to deep left, and she scored on consecutive throwing and fieldinig errors.
Serra followed with a hit and sophomore Saylor Costa a “freebie,” but the flurry ended there.
Trailing 7-0, the Mariners fought back in the fourth. Sophomore Kiana Fanning whacked a hit to left and Beauchemin one to right to start the frame, ad sophomore Kylie Bean’s sacrifice bunt pushed them into scoring position. Junior Shannon McDonald plated Fanning with a groundout to second, though Charette caught junior Paige Martone staring at a called third strike to shut down that rally.
Beauchemin had allowed five hits, seven runs (six earned) and two walks (with a pair of HBPs) in her three-inning stint while fanning two, so head coach Mark Paliotti decided to replace her with southpaw Hannah Foster in the fourth, and she excelled.
She did have some location issues, however, in the fifth. She walked both Rigley and Bullen before Jacques beat out a bunt single to fill the bases. Rigley and Bullen both scored on wild offerings to make it 9-1. Foster issued another pass to Troiano to reload the bags, though Moreau lined out to the second baseman McDonald for the first out.
Serra, though, ended it after slicing an opposite-field, two-run hit to right center.
“That girl (Charette) brought the ball to the plate; she was hittable, and we hit some shots, but they were right at somebody or in the air,” Paliotti said afterward. “That’s why I kept telling the girls to hit line drives. Like I said, we hit the ball, but they made the plays.
“I also think we put ourselves in a hole sometimes when we let the first pitch go by, and I look at the batter and she says, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ and then she looks at another one right down the middle. That’s maybe the one she should have swung at.
“We needed to take advantage of strikes earlier in the count.”
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Narragansett 000 10 –1–3–4
St. Raphael 160 04 – 11 – 8 – 0 Amelia Beauchemin, Hannah Foster (4) and Kiana Fanning, Abigail Foster (4). Sydney Charette and Saylor Costa. 2B – Ashley Bullen. 3B – Taylor Moreau.