Magicians stay in the hunt for NEC title with win

They might not have any of the glamorous names in the Northeastern Conference, but the Marblehead softball team has quietly become a contender for the NEC South title.With a state tournament berth already in its pocket, Marblehead came to Grace Rogato Field on Thursday and put together another solid effort against Lynn Classical. Centerfielder Sam Norman drove in four runs, including a two-run homer, and pitcher Sara Hastings (9 hits, 3 strikeouts, no walks) held the Rams to one earned run in a 7-2 win that moved Marblehead to 10-1 for the year.”We certainly are not a glamorous team,” Marblehead coach John Gold said. “But we are very steady and are a blue-collar type of team ? And that’s what’s winning us games.”The Magicians were so adept at playing defense on Thursday they were able to work around three errors. Classical had runners on in every inning except the seventh, but left a total of nine on in the game and committed four costly errors.”When you don’t have intensity, you don’t play well,” Rams coach Chris Warren said. “In the games we’ve haven’t done well in, we’ve lacked it. And hopefully that sets in with this team sooner rather than later.”Marblehead got things started early as freshman shortstop Kathryn DiGiammarino got the first of her three hits on the day to open the game. She went to second on an outfield error.Grace Quigley sacrificed DiGiammarino to third and she scored by beating the throw home on Sam Norman’s grounder to third to make it 1-0.Classical (6-6) tied the game in the bottom of the first when Fallon Gaudet reached on an infield single with one out. She went to third on Jenny Garrity’s two-out single and scored on a throwing error in the infield.Marblehead threatened again in the second, putting runners on the corners with two outs, but Katie Cuozzo (7 innings, 7 runs, 5 earned runs, 9 hits, 3 strikeouts, 1 hit batter) got Emmy Walsh on a grounder to short. The Rams then put the first two on in the bottom of the inning but Hastings got the next three in order to diffuse that threat.The Magicians went in front for good in the third, led by DiGiammarino, who bunted for a hit. Quigley followed with a single that moved the freshman shortstop to third before Norman’s sacrifice fly to left scored DiGiammarino for a 2-1 lead.Quigley went to third on the play and came in one batter later on Emma Crowley’s grounder to third to make it 3-1.It was still a 3-1 game in the fifth when the Magicians broke the game open.Once again it was DiGiammarino who was the table setter as she doubled up the gap in right to lead things off. Quigley followed with a ground out before Norman turned on a pitch and rocketed a towering homer to left that made it 5-1.”You don’t see many balls hit out of this park,” Gold said. “That was a shot that Sam hit.”Crowley kept the inning going when she doubled with two outs and then scored on an errant throw back to the mound following a steal of third for a 6-1 lead.Classical put two more runners on in the bottom of the fifth but saw that chance go by the boards when Hastings got Garrity to line out to Norman in center to end the inning.The Magicians tacked on another run in the sixth on a hit and two errors. Classical then threatened a final time as it loaded the bases with one out.Hastings got Kayla Walleston to ground into a fielder’s choice that erased Jennie Erekson (2-for-3) at home for the second out and then Gaudet (2-for-4)) on a pop-up to DiGiammarino at short.”I am so proud of this team,” Gold said. “They are 10-1 and have done everything we’ve asked of them.”