SAUGUS – The Saugus softball team enjoyed a successful season, winning the Northeastern Conference/South title, and earning the third seed in the Division 2 North state tournament.However, running into Arlington Catholic after a preliminary-round bye proved to be a rough reward for the Sachems, as the Cougars rode a strong pitching performance by Jamie Ricciardi to a 5-1 victory Saturday afternoon at the high school field.Click here for a photo gallery.Senior shortstop Jackie Doherty’s fourth-inning triple (she scored on a passed ball soon after) was all the offense the Sachems could muster off Ricciardi. The junior pitcher allowed just the one run on three hits, while striking out seven.”She was effective all game long,” said Saugus coach Bobbie Finocchio. “She hit the inside corner over and over all game long, and we had trouble with her. She didn’t walk anyone, and that’s how you win games.”AC’s offense showed itself in the top of the second. After a diving stop and great throw by Doherty to get the first out of the inning, Arlington countered with RBI doubles from Sara D’Arcangelo and Courtney Leddy for a quick 2-0 lead off Saugus pitcher Nichole Lowe.That would prove to be all the offense Ricciardi needed. After Doherty cut the lead in half in the fourth, the Cougars tacked on three more in the sixth, highlighted by back-to-back RBI doubles from sophomore Ellie Powers and D’Arcangelo.”We came up big with some timely two-out hitting that scored some runs and it continued from there,” said AC coach Katie Jennings. “We did a good job throughout the whole order. The bottom of the order stepped up and knocked in some big runs, which is always great to see.”Arlington takes on North Reading in the quarterfinals Tuesday.”We played North Reading over Memorial Day weekend (a 13-9 win) and it was a very close game, so we’re expecting the same thing this time around,” Jennings said.For Saugus, a terrific season came to a disappointing end, but Finocchio was happy with the season as a whole.”This obviously wasn’t the ideal ending, of course, but like I told the girls, we need to look at the bigger picture,” she said. “We won the NEC South and we have a lot to be proud of.”The Sachems will lose five seniors to graduation, including Doherty and Lowe, who was the team’s ace pitcher all season long. Finocchio described both as leaders on and off the field.Despite these losses, she remains optimistic for next season.”It’ll be a great challenge to fill all of our seniors’ shoes next season, but we have some young talent coming up, so I think we should be fine,” she said.