St. Mary’s captures Holland Tournament title

LYNN – Give a good team an inch, and they will usually take a mile.That was exactly the case in the finals of the 2011 John Holland Memorial Tournament on Sunday at Grace Rogato Field. St. Mary’s broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning by scoring three times on its lone hit of the game to knock off Lynn Classical, 4-1.Click here for a photo gallery.”It was the type of game that I kind of expected,” St. Mary’s coach Colleen Newbury said. “Both teams played really well and both pitchers were on. We had to try something to change it up and it paid off.”St. Mary’s had done the same thing on Saturday in its semifinal game with Lynn English, breaking a 2-2 tie with an eight-run fifth inning en route to a 12-2 win.”They executed and we didn’t. That’s the bottom line,” said Classical coach Chris Warren. “That was small ball at its best.It was very clear early on that there was a likelihood that one run could win the final and both teams went to their bag of tricks to try and get that run first.Classical, who reached the final with a walkoff win against Swampscott on Saturday, stranded a runner at second in the second inning against Spartan pitcher Brooke L’Abbe. In the third, Olivia DeJoie led off with a single and was at third before Jerrica DeLos Santos flied out to end the inning.Across the diamond, St. Mary’s was having about the same luck against Mackenzie Coppinger, who held the Spartans hitless through three innings.The Rams (20-2) had a golden chance in the top of the fourth but pinch runner Jessica Perez was tagged out in a rundown between second and third after being caught too far off the bag on a Chelsey Bartlett sacrifice.Bolstered by that big play, the Spartans broke the ice against Coppinger in the bottom of the fourth.L’Abbe drew a one-out walk and was replaced by courtesy runner Jennie Mucciarone. Ariel LaRosa sacrificed Mucciarone to second and an error plated the freshman.Classical clawed right back in the fifth as Jennie Erekson doubled, was sacrificed to second by Katie Cuozzo and scored on a passed ball.It was tied until the sixth, when Angela Dandreo broke up Coppinger’s no-hitter with a leadoff double. L’Abbe reached on a fielder’s choice that moved Dandreo to third.LaRosa then plated Dandreo with the go-ahead run on another fielder’s choice. Brianna Holmes’ groundout scored Mucciarone for a 3-1 lead and Allison Butler made it 4-1 on another fielder’s choice.”St. Mary’s is a good team and that’s what can happen when you put the ball in play,” Warren said. “They did that and we didn’t.”In the consolation game, Stephanie Collins and Danielle Mayblyum combined on a one-hitter as Swampscott beat English 7-0.A senior from each team was awarded a scholarship by the Holland Tournament Committee. The recipients were Lauren Sullivan of Swampscott; Hannah Byrne, Classical; Keila Lantigua, English; and Holmes of St. Mary’s.