St. Mary’s stunned by Greater Lowell in North quarterfinals

LYNN – Everything about Monday’s Division 3 North quarterfinal between St. Mary’s and Greater Lowell at Fraser Field was just plain bizarre.The Gryphons outhit the hosts 15-3 and the teams combined to leave 25 men on base and commit nine errors. Yet somehow the squads would battle for over three hours and 10 innings before Greater Lowell completed the 5-3 stunner to bounce the No. 3-seeded Spartans.”We never could get the momentum that would put us over the top,” St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana said. “We had our opportunities and just didn’t get it done. And credit to Greater Lowell, they are a heck of a team.”The story of the night eventually became the efforts of Gryphon reliever Curtis Hamilton, who started the game in right field but was called to the mound on just one day’s rest to keep his team alive after St. Mary’s had tied the game in the seventh.Hamilton would wind up striking out nine and not allowing a hit over the next 3.1 innings while also laying down a crucial bunt in the 10th that set the Gryphons up for the winning runs to score.”For Curtis to come in and do that was amazing on one day’s rest,” Greater Lowell coach Dave MacLaughlan said. “He has a strong arm and we needed that.”St. Mary’s (18-5) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second when Angelo Codispoti, who reached five times and scored twice without recording an official at-bat, was hit by a pitch. Nick Day followed with a walk before Codispoti went to third on a bad pickoff throw and scored on Matt Turmenne’s groundout.The Gryphons (16-6), meanwhile, were knocking the ball all over the park against Turmenne in the opening innings and looked to have tied the game in the third when Corey Donovan doubled home Ashlie Corporan with two outs but the Gryphon shortstop missed third base and was called out on appeal.An inning later, Greater Lowell would take the lead by scoring three times on two hits and two errors. Scott Sodre’s 2-run single put the Gryphons up 2-1 and he later scored on a throwing error.”We came in playing such good defense, hitting the ball well and getting solid pitching,” Dana said. “It just goes to show you that when you let a team hang around in the tournament, these things can happen.”St. Mary’s clawed back in the bottom of the third, cutting the lead to 3-2 when Codispoti reached on a throwing error but failed to get more when Gryphon starter C.J. Torigian got Alex Glover on a flyout with the bases loaded.That would be a harbinger of things to come for the Spartans as they would have more chances to pull ahead thanks to the stellar relief pitching of Alex Fiste, who took over for Turmenne in the sixth.Fiste shut down Greater Lowell, giving his team a chance to tie the game in the seventh. St. Mary’s did just that when Glover singled, stole second and scored on Fiste’s rocket shot that hit off Torigian on the mound and bounded into left field.Enter Hamilton as MacLaughlan called on his ace to put out the fire, which he helped ignite even more by walking Codispoti and plunking Day to load the bases. But he reared back and struck out Joe Kasper to end the inning.”It really was a heck of a battle between two good teams,” Dana said.In the ninth, the Spartans had a glorious chance to win it as Fiste reached on an error and Codispoti walked. They each moved up a base on a passed ball but went no further as Hamilton struck out Day and Kasper to end the inning.The Gryphons then pulled in front for good as Brandon Moreau walked and later scored on C.J. Menoxelos’ sacrifice fly. Torigian followed with a single to center to score Sodre for the final margin as Hamilton whiffed the side in the bottom of the 10th.”This really was a great ballgame,” MacLaughlan said. “To come in here and beat a team the caliber of St. Mary’s is a big thing for us. Neither team really deserved to lose that game.”