‘Bash Sisters’ help St. Mary’s softball advance to D3 North final

LOWELL – Some testy weather forced the No. 6 St. Mary’s softball team to wait a bit longer to advance to the Division 3 North championship game, but nobody was complaining.After two delays, the Spartans earned a satisfying 8-1 victory over No. 2 Rockport behind some powerful hitting and pitching Friday at Martin Field.The Spartans will take on Marian Sunday (1) at Martin.Before the game’s first pitch was thrown, a heavy began to fall, prompting a half-hour delay. Once the grounds crew deemed the field ready for play, the Spartans (17-6) came out swinging, grabbing three runs in the first three innings.Kaleigh Finigan led off the top of the second with a sharp double down the left field line before an attempted sacrifice bunt from Genevieve Benoit worked better than expected as Finigan beat the throw to third leaving runners on the corners. An RBI ground out from Abbey Caggiano scored Finigan, giving the Spartans the 1-0 lead.St. Mary’s tacked on two more in the third with Brooke L’Abbe driving in Alison Butler with a deep RBI double. Finigan followed with an RBI single, scoring pinch-runner Cassandra LaFauci (two runs) from second. From their Nos. 3 and 4 spots in the order respectively, L’Abbe (2-3, two doubles) and Finigan (3-4, two doubles) combined for four RBI (two each).”They’ve been hot and cold together,” said coach Colleen Newbury of her two power hitters. “Today was a breakout day for both of them where they both carried us instead of one or the other. They were like the ‘Bash Sisters’ out there today.”A two-run double from Butler (2-3) in the top of the fourth increased the lead to five before lightning could be seen in the distance, prompting the games second delay, which lasted about an hour.L’Abbe who was in the middle of a stellar outing was nearly removed once play resumed but Newbury opted to stay with the flamethrower.”We considered taking her out following that second delay and I was a bit nervous sending her out again but she continued pitching well,” said Newbury. “She was lights out once again.”L’Abbe’s complete game effort was rather similar to her outing (seven innings, one run, five hits, two strikeouts, zero walks) in Tuesday’s 10-1 victory over No. 3 Marian. She finished Friday’s outing with one run allowed, three hits, five strikeouts, and just two walks.The Vikings only run came right after play was resumed as L’Abbe walked Amanda Chalmers who before advanced to second on a passed ball. Gabby Muniz singled Chalmers to third before an RBI groundout from Kayla Parisi got Rockport on the board.Back to back doubles from L’Abbe and Finigan scored the former in the fifth before the Spartans tacked on two more in the sixth to close out their scoring. Victoria Viger led off the sixth with a single before stealing second on a pretty slide to the outside. She scored on an RBI double from Alexandria Fisher who then scored on an RBI sacrifice fly from L’Abbe.Newbury is expecting a dogfight for the championship, as the two teams split during the season.”It’s a bit weird playing a league opponent for the title but both teams have come a long way this season and it should be an excellent game.”