Northmen get better of Patriots
Venkataraman drives in four runs, earns victory
NORTH SMITHFIELD — Vanessa Venkataraman needed a break after she threw 220 pitches in Thursday’s 11-inning win over Barrington.
“I slept a lot,” Venkataraman said Monday afternoon. “Oh, yes, I felt it after the game and I hadn’t pitched since that game. This was my first time throwing since then and I was pretty sore. I’ve never thrown that many pitches. This was definitely my recovery game and hopefully next game I’ll pitch a lot better.”
Venkataraman is being a bit hard on herself. In Tuesday’s Division II clash against Blackstone Valley rival Davies Tech, the junior gave up 10 hits, but she only allowed three earned runs in six innings of work.
She was at her best when the Northmen were at the plate. Facing one of the elite pitchers in the division, Davies sophomore Tanya Cooper, Venkataraman delivered two-run singles in the second and fifth innings to help the Northmen earn a 14-4 six-inning home victory.
North Smithfield (11-1 Division I ) is now in full control of the race for the No. 1 seed in the division after second-place Mount St. Charles suffered a home defeat to Johnston. The Northmen already own a victory over the only team with two losses, Barrington.
“I do think it’s a big deal to be the No. 1 seed,” North Smithfield coach Paul Mercier said. “I think emotionally, for these girls, I think it’s big. That No. 1 seed will give them what they need after what North Smithfield has gone through over the last few years in the playoffs. We just need to win as many games as we can and play like champions.”
“At the beginning we knew we weren’t going to have one of our main players, so I wasn’t sure how we were going to do,” Venkataraman said. “This team has surprised me and we’ve improved so much. We’re like a family and when someone makes a mistake, we pick each other up. I don’t see that on many other teams.”
Davies (5-5 Division II) saw its three-game winning steak end last week against Mount St. Charles. The Patriots were only down 6-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning after a two-run single from catcher Sam Lisi. But, an arm injury to Cooper in the last of the fifth ended the Patriots’ hopes.
Cooper allowed 10 runs, eight of which were earned, and eight hits, while striking out six Northmen.
“Yes, we were in this game, but we made a couple of base running errors that cost us at least one run,” Davies coach Scott Cooper said. “We also made some errors that cost us some runs. I had to take Tanya out after the fifth because she hurt her arm. We live and die by her and everyone knows that. We need to keep her arm stable.”
Cooper struck out the side in the opening inning, but the Northmen scored three times in the second to take a lead they would never relinquish. Alyssa Murray plated freshman Alex Ledger with a single and then Venkataraman scored Murray and Jill DePari with a single.
The Northmen offense con- tinued to roll in the third. Sophomore Liz Jalette, who was 3-for-3, singled in Lorenza O’Donnell before DePari hit a two-run single to extend the 60.
The Patriots grabbed a run back in the fourth, and then they took advantage of some poor Northmen infield defense to score three times in the fifth. Claudia Tomczyk and Kelsey Daigle both reached on bunt singles before Lisi singled in two runs. Lisi scored later in the inning on an error.
“No, I’m not happy at all,” Mercier said. “I knew this might be a trap game because Tanya throws the ball so well. This team needs to button all that stuff up on defense. When teams put the ball in play against North Smithfield, we need to start playing better. Offensively, we’re an 11-1 team – not defensively.”
Cooper loved what he saw from his squad in the top of the fifth, but he was frustrated his team failed to test the Northmen defense in other innings.
“This is a repeat of the last game (against Mount),” Cooper said. “We made miscues running and we didn’t lay the bunts down. Look what happened in the fifth; we had runners and it works. We’re a team that’s on the fence and it’s a matter of where we fall on that day.”
Freshman Kayla Butler, Venkataraman and Hope Trowbridge all drove in runs in the fifth inning to increase the home side’s lead to 10-4 before sophomore pinch hitter Kaitlyn Walsh knocked in a pair of runs in the sixth inning to help end the contest an inning early.
While Davies hosts Ponaganset Thursday afternoon, the Northmen look to extend their winning streak to 12 games Thursday at struggling East Greenwich.