Spartan Conquest: St. Mary’s softball claims its first state championship

WORCESTER – The goal was set from the first time the St. Mary’s softball team practiced in its own version of Midnight Madness: Be the final team standing in Division 3 on June 13.On Saturday afternoon at Jesse Burkett LL’s Rockwood Field, the Spartans saw that goal through.Surviving a rocky start that saw them commit three errors in the first three innings, the Spartans used outstanding relief pitching from Sam Kiley and several timely hits to take an 8-5 win over Monty Tech and give the program its first softball state championship.Click here for a photo gallery.”It started at midnight on the first day of practice,” St. Mary’s coach Colleen Newbury said following the obligatory Gatorade bath given to her by the team. “We said that this was where we wanted to be, and it’s funny how it totally worked out.”St. Mary’s (19-8) had been knocking on this door for most of this decade, losing three times in the Eastern Mass. final, and might have been guilty of having a little stage fright on Saturday. But once Kiley entered the game in the third inning of a 5-5 contest, the Spartans took flight.”It was kind of a rocky start because we were so nervous. But once we finally settled in, things took care of themselves,” Newbury said.The way the game began, it looked like St. Mary’s was going to breeze to its eighth consecutive victory as Kristina Burri opened the game with a double to left. Maria Nazzaro then reached on an error before Erin McAndrews’ sacrifice fly to right scored Burri for a 1-0 lead.Kristen Mondello then hit a grounder to short for an infield single, with Nazzaro scoring on the play when Kelly LaCroix’s throw was errant to make it 2-0. Bulldogs starter Alyssa Babineau then got Ariel LaRosa and Brianna Holmes to prevent further damage.Monty Tech promptly responded to go in front in the bottom of the inning. Vanessa LaFauci struck out Ivette Tejada to begin the inning and then got Michelle Perry swinging. But McAndrews couldn’t handle the third strike, allowing Perry to reach.Babineau and LaCroix then reached on errors to load the bases. Paige Quinn, a thorn in St. Mary’s side all day, singled to left, scoring Perry to make it 2-1.Following a strikeout, LaFauci walked Tori Holbert and Kelsie Twombly with the bases loaded to suddenly give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. Ashley Gowey went down looking for LaFauci’s fourth strikeout of the inning.St. Mary’s tied the game in the top of the second when Jenna Fraher singled with one out and moved to second on Brittany Hanscom’s sacrifice bunt. Fraher actually should have been retired on the play as she was caught between second and third, but Carissa Carrier’s throw was errant, allowing the Spartan third baseman to score.The Bulldogs went back in front in the bottom of the second as Tejada singled and Perry walked to begin things. A groundout moved them up 60 feet and LaCroix’s grounder to second got Tejada home. Quinn followed with an infield single that gave Monty Tech a 5-3 lead.St. Mary’s charged back in the third as McAndrews singled and courtesy runner Michelle Macchione stole second. Mondello followed with a single to center, scoring Macchione to make it 5-4 while Mondello wound up at third on a throwing error.Ariel LaRosa’s grounder to third was then booted, bringing Mondello in to tie the game at 5-5. Kiley took over on the mound for LaFauci in the bottom of the inning and immediately faced trouble when Holbert reached on an error.Fraher then caught Twombley’s popped-up bunt attempt and threw to Burri covering at first to double off Holbert and get St. Mary’s out of harm’s way.The Spartans took the lead for good in the fourth when Hanscom reached on a one-out error. Burri followed with a triple down the line in left, scoring the speedy Hanscom for a 6-5 lead. An error on Nazzaro’s comebacker to Babineau scored Burri.”One through nine, everyone on this team does something that helps us win,” McAndrews said.Kiley was determined to make the lead stand up. She allowed two hits in