St. Mary’s softball captures D3 state title

WORCESTER – The St. Mary’s softball team had lived on the brink in its previous two games before Saturday’s Division 3 state final against Murdock at Rockwood Field. This game, however, would not complete a trilogy.Instead, it completed a second straight state championship as the Spartans capitalized on seven Blue Devil errors to plate 10 unearned runs against Brittney Howe in cruising to an 11-1 win that truly wasn’t even that close.Click here for a photo gallery.The only real drama on Saturday was how the Spartans would give coach Colleen Newbury the obligatory dousing of ice water on a scorching hot day at Worcester State. For the record, Maria Nazzaro and Brittany Hanscom did the honors as the teams were completing the handshake line.After drying off, Newbury was able to smile and enjoy what her charges had just polished off.”It is so great to have won two in a row now,” Newbury said. “Our seven seniors have been the heart and soul of the program since they got here and for them to go out in this way is spectacular.”Fittingly in their final game, it was the seniors who carried the Spartans (22-5) to ultimate glory.Nazzaro, Hanscom, Erin McAndrews and Kristina Burri combined to score seven times, drive in six runs and lead the Spartan defense to a near flawless game behind pitcher Sam Kiley. Kiley also held the Blue Devils to five hits and a lone first-inning run in her final effort in the circle.”It’s unbelievable,” Nazzaro said. “I’m going to miss this, but to win another championship is a great way to leave.”St. Mary’s lost the flip and served as the visiting team, but it allowed the Spartans to get a quick start in the first as Nazzaro doubled, was sacrificed to third by Hanscom and scored on McAndrews’ single to left to make it 1-0.Murdock (20-3) clawed right back in the bottom of the first as Jocelyn Agnelli walked with one out, moved all the way to third on Ashley Bridges’ bunt hit and scored on Katie Berube’s groundout. The Blue Devils might have had more in the inning but Bridges was thrown out trying to reach third on the play, ending the inning.”Our defense has been outstanding all year and they made another big play for us there,” Newbury said.The Spartans then exploded in the second, piling on seven runs via five hits and four Blue Devil errors to turn the game into a rout.Briana Holmes started things innocently enough with a base hit. She reached third when Kiley’s bunt was thrown away. A momentary hiccup came when courtesy runner Allison Butler was called out for leaving the base early at first.Sabrina Iannetti then hit a routine grounder to second but Agnelli botched it, allowing Holmes to score and open the floodgates. Nazzaro singled and Hanscom reached on an error before McAndrews doubled off the fence in left, scoring two more runs for a 4-1 lead.Another error on Ariel LaRosa’s grounder to third plated Hanscom and Burri drove home two more runs with a base hit. Holmes’ second hit of the inning scored Burri to give the Spartans an 8-1 lead.”Our baserunning was right on point (Saturday),” Newbury said. “And we kept hitting it where they weren’t, but I was certainly shocked we got so many runs off their pitcher.”Things calmed down through the middle innings as both pitchers traded zeroes before Murdock’s defense betrayed it again in the fifth as two more errors led to three more unearned runs against Howe.Hanscom and McAndrews singled with one out. Two errors allowed Hanscom to score, with McAndrews crossing on a wild pitch. Burri picked up her third RBI of the game with a single to make it 11-1, leaving little doubt about the outcome.All that was left was to play out the proverbial string and Kiley took care of that by shutting down Murdock. And when Angela Dandreo caught Holmes’ throw from third on Cayla Clinkscale’s grounder, the celebration could finally begin in earnest.”We played such a tough schedule during the year and I think it helped us here,” Newbury said. “These girls have worked so hard with t