Lincoln/NP co-op drops opener to West Warwick

NORTH PROVIDENCE — A week ago, they were scrimmaging against one another. Fast forward to Wednesday at Governor Notte Park and Lincoln and North Providence found themselves occupying the same dugout as part of a new co-op between two softball programs that were previously in limbo.

The first official game for Lincoln/ North Providence or ‘LNP’ as they will go by, will go in the books as a one-sided defeat with visiting West Warwick blasted their way to a 10-0 victory, outhitting their opponents by a 14-1 margin.

For Michael Tuorto and Alyssa McCoart, LNP’s co-head coaches for the 2024 season, Wednesday’s final score was secondary in nature to the obstacles facing the team over the next two months.

“Our numbers were low to begin with at the start of the season,” said McCoart, who was Lincoln’s coach.

“We had some injuries, we had girls that were sick and going into our first game last Tuesday, I didn’t have enough healthy bodies to go out there,” she said of the initial setback.

Following a phone conference with RIIL Director Michael Lunney over the weekend, efforts were put into place to ensure that the season as a whole was not a lost cause for the Lions, especially their seniors given all the work they had put in previously.

“It was kind of a last-minute thing,” McCoart explained. “We had to do what we had to do to get these girls a season.”

With North Providence facing a similar dilemma, the two were able to join forces, having successfully met the necessary criteria.

“We had to jump right in full force,” said Tuorto, who also happens to be Lincoln’s wrestling coach. “It was a smooth transition, but it was kind of a lot all at once,” he admitted.

With the roster divided fairly evenly between members of the two schools, LNP’s main objective going forward will be looking to create a cohesive unit on the field and in the dugout, a task easier said than done.

“To get ready to play a league game in less than a week, there were a lot of moving parts,” said Tuorto, whose team will divide its home games between Notte Park and Saylesville Elementary School.

Freshman Anna Danis got the start inside the circle for the home team, looking to contain a Wizards lineup that was ready to erupt after being limited to just a single run on Monday in a 2-1 loss to Scituate.

Danis would wind up going six full frames on the day, allowing five runs, four of which were earned, while striking out one. Senior Kayla-Jo Macchio struggled in relief, surrendering five earned runs in just two thirds of an inning against a Wizards team led by right fielder Charlotte Horak who went 3-for-4 with three RBI and third baseman Adrianna Carsetti who supplied two RBI of her own in the winning effort.

Emma Pinault got the start for the visitors, allowing no runs on one hit while striking out three in four scoreless frames before freshman Bryce Principe came on and struck out four batters over two scoreless innings of relief.

LNP (0-1) will look to spend the next several days improving on the practice field before hitting the road on April 15 for an 11 a.m. matchup against Middletown.

While they will remain a co-op for the foreseeable future, Tuorto is hoping that it isn’t too long before things go back to the way they were.

“The longterm goal of a co-op is not to be a co-op for very long,” he said. ‘It’s to get your numbers up, build your program back up and the disband. Hopefully, we’re competing against each other very shortly, but what we have going on right now is great.”