Central Catholic: power trip
Central Catholic sophomore Amelia Ovalles clobbered a pitch out of Kennedy Park in Lawrence Monday, the ball landing on Daisy Street behind a lengthy stretch of grass and sparse trees. The home run, the third of the second inning in a 13-0 victory over Chelmsford, missed oncoming traffic before bouncing past a house across the street.
The next inning, junior Katie Fox plunked a home run off a tree in left-center field, and the Raiders smacked three more round-trippers that day. An onslaught of home runs, a rarity for many high school softball teams, has become the norm for the fourth-ranked Raiders (9-1).
Central Catholic has outscored opponents, 129-15, in its first 10 games, and the Raiders are atop the MIAA Division 1 power rankings. A workmanlike attitude pervades the team. There is no music at practice or games, but the sound of batted balls echoes across Kennedy Park.
“It’s a standard that was set a while ago,” said coach Stacy Ciccolo. “The more kids that come into the program, the more kids buy into that standard. We just want to do the work. We want to pick each other up and be great teammates and help each other move forward.”
Ciccolo, a 1988 Tewksbury High School graduate, played shortstop at Bentley, Suffolk, and Central Florida and has been at the helm of the Raiders for 16 years.
“I feel like we’re blue collar,” she said. “We want to go to work and make good things happen to be a good team.”
There are contributions from spots one through nine in the lineup, but the heart of the order has proven especially difficult for opponents to retire. Sophomore third baseman Caitlin Milner has a .641 batting average, 1 home run, 26 RBIs, and 14 runs. Hitting cleanup, sophomore Olivia Moeckel is batting .552 with 2 home runs, 13 RBIs, and 15 runs. Junior Zaynah Wotkowicz anchors the fifth spot with a .515 average, 2 home runs, 20 RBIs, and 15 runs.
“We have been able to string together some hits, which I think has given us some confidence,” said Ciccolo. “We talk about it all the time, getting the timely hit, and we’ve been able to do that. That’s the thing that I’m most pleased about: They have all found a way to contribute somehow.”
Junior Julia Malowitz, the team’s ace, has stymied hitters in addition to hitting .514 from the leadoff spot. Malowitz spins the ball with immaculate control and adept movement, keeping hitters at bay with plus velocity.
“This year, I’ve been getting into my zone where I take one pitch at a time,” said Malowitz. “I picture it every time and am able to lock it down. If I have a bad at-bat, I use that as my energy. I just want to compete, so I lock in.”
After an appearance in the state quarterfinals last season, a torrid stretch in the first three games of this season gave Central Catholic ample confidence. Outscoring traditional powerhouses ninth-ranked Peabody (the Division 1 runner-up last season), North Andover, and No. 10 Tewksbury (Division 2 semifinalist) by a 37-8 count propelled the Raiders to a dream start.
“We have really good team camaraderie,” said Moeckel. “We’re always helping each other out and building each other up. At tryouts, we were locked in, ready to go. The team was made and we went to work. We didn’t let anything slow us down and we built as a team.”
The Raiders have rallied around the words “compete” and “focus.”
“I know everyone here gives everything they have when they come to practice and we don’t expect anything less, so I think that has produced a lot of our success this year,” said Wotkowicz.
Extra bases
■ After graduating seven seniors from last season’s team, Bishop Feehan has struggled to get comfortable at the plate. But the young Shamrocks (5-5) settled into their roles this past week, earning Catholic Central League wins over Arlington Catholic (16-3) Tuesday and No. 15 St. Mary’s (9-1) Thursday. The Shamrocks faced a rigorous early schedule, and four of their five losses have been by three or fewer runs.
“We talked a lot about our inability to score enough runs to win a game,” said Feehan coach Bill Milot. “That’s something we’ve been emphasizing all year — not just having a good batting average, but preparing quality at-bats.”
Now Feehan prepares for battles against reigning D1 champion Taunton and rematches with St. Mary’s, King Philip, and Bridgewater-Raynham.
■ Following an 18-1 win over Old Rochester, Joseph Case players headed to the outfield for their typical postgame debrief. But this time, coach Shannon Silva had a surprise: senior pitcher Hailey Berube had eclipsed 300 career strikeouts. After fanning nine in the South Coast contest, Berube was up to a total of 308.
“Once she had gotten her 300th strikeout, I took that game ball out of the game, wrote on it for her, put it in my backpack, and we gave it to her after the game,” Silva said. “We don’t ever talk about individual accolades ever . . . so [the girls are] genuinely happy for [her].”
After collecting 153 strikeouts and leading her team to the D4 state finals in her junior season, Berube has continued to lead the sixthranked Cardinals. She has 67 strikeouts and a 1.20 ERA this season, and Joseph Case is 9-0.