Hit parade powers St. Mary’s softball past Swampscott

SWAMPSCOTT – Scoring runs generally hasn’t been a problem for the St. Mary’s softball team this season ? and it wasn’t again on Tuesday at the Forest Avenue Fields in Swampscott.Second baseman Kristina Burri, moved down the lineup by head coach Colleen Newbury to try to kick-start her bat, went 3-for-4 and drove in five runs while Erin McAndrews was 4-for-4 with three RBI and four runs scored as the Spartans rolled to a 13-1, 5-inning win over the Big Blue.Click here for a photo gallery.”We’ve scored a lot of runs this year with our baserunning,” Newbury said. “I kind of had a good feeling about hitting Kristina sixth, and Erin is just such a great player and athlete.”The Spartans (10-2) pounded out 15 hits off Swampscott pitchers Kirstin Vinal and Angela Vousboukis. The two teams are also slated to meet in the opening round of the Holland Tournament on Memorial Day weekend and Big Blue coach Frank Kowalski knows his team got a good lesson on Tuesday.”It wasn’t like we played bad,” Kowalski said. “They hit the ball very well ? I have a lot of respect for what Colleen does over there. But we will give them a better game the next time, that I can promise you.”St. Mary’s didn’t waste much time in getting started against Vinal.Maria Nazzaro reached to open the game but was erased on a Brittany Hanscom fielder’s choice. McAndrews followed with a single before Ariel LaRosa flew out to right. Katie Collins followed with a walk to load the bases.The sacks didn’t stay full for long as Burri tripled to dead center to give St. Mary’s a 3-0 lead.Swampscott had a chance to eat into the Spartans’ lead in the bottom of the second against Sam Kiley. Lindsay Marini singled and Kelly Birchmore drew a walk. A passed ball moved both runners up 60 feet before Kiley snared Merry Ball’s sharp grounder up the middle to end the inning.”We had plenty of baserunners and just couldn’t get a hit when we needed it,” Kowalski said.St. Mary’s added to the lead in the third as Hanscom reached on an infield single to open things. McAndrews then blasted a double to left-center to increase the lead to 4-0. Vinal got the next two hitters before Burri struck again, doubling home McAndrews for a 5-0 lead.Swampscott got a run back in the bottom of the third as Tori Wharff drew a leadoff walk and stole second. She went to third on Alex Wilson’s grounder and came in on Heather Doyle’s groundout to short.The Spartans, however, effectively put the game out of reach in the fourth.No. 9 batter Briana Holmes led off with a single. Nazzaro then bunted for a hit before Hanscom sacrificed both runners up a base.McAndrews promptly picked up two more RBI with a single that made it 7-1. One out later, Collins singled home McAndrews before Burri drove home her fifth run of the game with a double that plated courtesy runner Sabrina Iannetti.An inning later, the Spartans added four runs on five hits. Hanscom drove home two with a single and LaRosa added a sacrifice fly to score McAndrews. Hanscom had crossed on an error.Vanessa LaFauci took over for Kiley in the bottom of the fifth and pitched around a walk to Wilson to put an end to the game.