North hangs on to defeat South in Agganis Softball Classic

LYNN – For six innings on Sunday at Fraser Field, the 13th Agganis All-Star Softball Classic was dominated by the North team. Then things got a wee bit hairy.The South club rallied for three runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh but was unable to complete its comeback as the North won for the second time in three years via a 10-8 final.Click here for a photo gallery.”Yeah, it got a little crazy there at the end,” North coach Frank Pagliuca of Lexington said. “But I really enjoyed this. It was a lot of fun and was a great game.”The North dominated most of the game but sweated it out late as the South tried to rally against Winchester’s Emily Smith.Swampscott’s Kirstin Vinal led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and moved to third on a pair of passed balls. Val Fiaccaprile walked with one out and was on second with two down when team MVP Fallon Gaudet of Classical hit a grounder to short. But the ball was thrown away, allowing two runs to score and make it 10-7.English’s Cara Crowley then singled home Gaudet to cut the lead to two to bring Winthrop’s Abby Belcher to the plate as the tying run. With Crowley at third following two passed balls, Smith got Belcher to pop to Stephania Garcia at short to allow the North to exhale.”What was it, like, 9-0? ? and we didn’t have a hit for four or five innings,” Winthrop and South coach Dave Guffey said. “But these girls are all competitors and once they settled down and got comfortable, they started making things happen.”The problem for the South was that its counterparts across the diamond meant business from the get-go.Michelle Macchione led off the top of the first with a walk and went all the way to third on Kiki McKenna’s sacrifice. With two outs, Fenwick’s Alyssa Begin singled home Macchione for a 1-0 lead. Begin would eventually be named North MVP for her efforts on the day.Smith followed with a base hit to plate Begin and give the North a 2-0 lead after one.In the second, the North added another run as Lynnfield’s Abby Tobin singled, stole second and scored on a hit from Masco’s Olivia Story. The South threatened against St. Mary’s Sam Kiley in the bottom of the inning, putting runners on the corners, before Emma Crowley went down swinging.The North assumed control in the third, adding five more runs on three hits and an error. Jen Gallione walked and scored on a single by Fenwick’s Amanda McInnis. Rachel Channen reached on an error and Kiley walked before Garcia drove home two more to make it 6-0.McKenna blasted a 2-run double down the left field line with one out to stake her team to an 8-0 lead after three innings. That margin became 9-0 in the top of the fourth on Katie Guido’s single that drove home Begin.The South finally got its offense started in the bottom of the fourth when Jenny Garrity reached on an error. Tiffany Drown followed with a walk that saw Garrity score when ball four got to the backstop.Vinal followed with another walk and Drown raced home on a sacrifice fly from Moe Bradley. Vinal would cross on another passed ball to cut the lead to 9-3 after four.The North got a run back on an RBI single from Rachel Channen in the top of the fifth before Gaudet got the South’s first hit on a leadoff triple in the bottom of the inning. She would cross on a passed ball to make it 10-4.Cara Crowley then walked and stole second and third before scoring on a passed ball. Begin struck out the next two before walking Silvie Cohen and Emma Crowley. Cortney Fletcher followed with a shot to left that looked to be extra bases but Macchione raced over to make the catch along the foul line.