St. Mary’s softball edges Fenwick

LYNN – It was a back-and-forth battle on Sunday at Grace Rogato Field with first place in the Catholic Central League on the line between Bishop Fenwick and St. Mary’s. And leave it to one of the Spartans who has plenty of big game experience to come through in the clutch.Senior Angela Dandreo’s RBI single with one out in the bottom of the seventh plated pinch runner Jennie Mucciarone to give the Spartans a 5-4 win and a season sweep of the Crusaders.”Angela came up with a big hit when we needed it,” Spartans coach Colleen Newbury said. “It was a good game to get us ready for the tournament.”St. Mary’s (13-1) did its damage little by little against Fenwick ace Taylor Ahearn, striking for single runs in five of seven innings.”For not having played in 11 days, I thought we played very good,” Fenwick coach Paul Lyman said. “We could have knocked down a couple of balls in the outfield to keep them from getting extra bases and you have to do those things against St. Mary’s.”The Spartans jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings but found themselves trailing 4-3 heading to the bottom of the sixth before the bottom of their order came up huge.No. 8 batter Genevieve Benoit doubled with one down and then came home when Alexandria Fisher’s bunt was thrown away to tie the game. Combined, the duo went 4-for-6 with two RBI and three Benoit runs scored.”The bottom of the order came up huge for us and that’s nice to see,” Newbury said.The game-winner came after Ahearn got Brooke L’Abbe to pop out to begin the seventh. Ariel LaRosa followed with a double to right and Dandreo singled to center, scoring Mucciarone with the winning run.”They put so much pressure on you with the way they hit the ball,” Lyman said.Dandreo gave St. Mary’s a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first with Benoit tripling and scoring on a Fisher fielder’s choice in the second.Fenwick clawed back even in the third as Abby Curran singled and scored when Meredith Ross’ bunt was misplayed into a three-base error. A passed ball allowed Ross to come home.The Spartans regained the lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the third before Fenwick took the lead in the sixth on RBIs from Curran and Ahearn.