Concannon stymies MSC
Barrington hurler tosses four-hit shutout
PROVIDENCE — If it wasn’t clear after her dominating performances against No. 5 Rogers and No. 1 North Smithfield in the Barrington softball team’s first two playoff wins, then it became crystal clear early in Friday night’s Division II winners’ bracket final game that junior pitcher Paige Concannon is finally healthy.
After dealing with a couple of lower- body injuries during an uneven regular season, the tall Eagle has stymied all three of Barrington’s playoff opponents.
Concannon gave up a run to the Vikings, before she shut out the high-powered Northmen last week. Friday night, Concannon allowed just four singles to the No. 2 Mounties and she also delivered a pair of hits and an RBI to lead the No. 4 Eagles to a 4-0 victory at Rhode Island College.
“The difference was Paige Concannon,” Barrington coach Sandy Gorham said. “She’s battled injuries all season. She’s finally healthy and she has a lot of confidence right now. We played good, solid defense and that’s the difference in the game.”
“I saw a complete reversal of the first game because we had a bunch of hits the first time and today they had nine and we had four,” said Mount coach Cliff Matthews, whose team defeated the Eagles 6-2 during the regular season. “We did not hit the ball well off of Paige. That’s obviously going to be our focus.”
“I saw a complete reversal of the first game because we had a bunch of hits the first time and today they had nine and we had four.”
– MSC’s Cliff Matthews
Barrington (16-4) is in the Division II title game for the first time since 2009 and will play the winner of Saturday’s losers’ bracket final game at 1 p.m. at Rhode Island College between the Mounties and No. 6 Johnston.
Mount St. Charles (16-4) crushed the Panthers, 10-0, in five innings in the team’s last meeting at Rhode Island College a week ago in the winners’ bracket semifinals. Since that loss, however, Jordan Moretti, Madison Plouffe and the Panthers have posted wins over Rogers and St. Raphael.
“If (Taylor Newcomb) can throw the ball as well as she did in our previous two games against St. Raphael and Johnston, we’ll be fine,” Matthews said. “The other thing is there’s a big difference between Concannon and (Plouffe). We just couldn’t get any offense going.”
The Mounties received hits from Emily D’Abrosca, Marissa Santoro, Kaitlyn D’Abrosca and Sky O’Connell, but none of the Mounties made it past second base.
Newcomb struggled with her control for long stretches of the contest, but she found a way to stand six runners in the first five innings. Barrington should’ve opened the scoring in the third inning when leadoff hitter Sydney Parkhurst cracked a double over Kaitlyn D’Abrosca’s head in right, but Heidi Grove started running too late and only made it to third base, where she was stranded after two straight outs.
Newcomb set down the first two Eagles in the fifth inning, but then she sandwiched walks to Grove and Maia Villarica around a single by Parkhurst. Newcomb extricated herself from the bases-loaded jam by inducing a ground out by Kaylee Feather.
“Newbie was struggling with one of her pitches today,” Matthews said. “It limited her effectiveness and she had to come over the plate more. It was her curveball that she had to bring inside more because it wasn’t breaking the way it normally does. Usually, she gets people reaching for that outside pitch.”
The Eagles finally took advantage of their opportunities in the in the sixth inning when Concannon led off with a double to right field. Courtesy runner Katrina Kelley scored on Lauren Grove’s double to right field. Grove made the score 2-0 when Alex Marinelli tripled.
The Mounties talented outfield trio of the D’Abrosca sisters and Sophia Monti is fast, but three balls went over their heads in the last two innings.
“We had runners in scoring position and we were trying to limit them, and they hadn’t proven to us they could do that,” Matthews said. “They hit a couple over the top. I told the kids on the way home that’s a coaching decision.”
That was more than enough run support for Concannon. The junior set down the first nine batters before Emily D’Abrosca’s single to lead off the fourth. Santoro, Kaitlyn D’Abrosca and O’Connell all made it to second base, but Concannon stranded all three to earn her second straight shutout at RIC.
“Paige is on right now,” Gorham said. “Even as a young girl, she was always a good biggame pitcher. She rises to the occasion and she’s healthy. We’ve put a saddle on her back and we’re going to ride it.”
The junior singled in Villarica in the seventh and Maddie Cox followed with an RBI double to finish the scoring.