St. Mary’s softball takes care of Weston

LYNN – St. Mary’s coach Colleen Newbury probably won’t see it this way, but her team’s 8-0 victory over Weston Saturday was a textbook clinic on how a No. 4 seed should approach No. 20 in a tournament.Even though the Spartans hadn’t played since Memorial Day, there was no sign of rust, and, more importantly, no sign of overconfidence. The team that has made going to at least the Division 3 North final an unbreakable habit since 2008 showed no signs of taking anything for granted.”I liked that we were focused,” Newbury said. “Everybody played. A lot of people got hits. The pitchers did well ? we caught the ball ? it was just a good game.”The shutout was shared among three pitchers: Brooke L’Abbe (four innings), Jordan D’Orsi (two) and Mia Nowicki (one). Catcher Tatiana Doucette, who logged as much ice time this past winter during hockey as Zdeno Chara does now, got a few innings off as well, with Vanessa VanBuskirk spelling her for the final two innings.”It was nice,” Newbury said, “to get some of them out of the game early, especially on a day like this (92 degrees).”Offensively, it was the Alison Butler show. The speedy left fielder, batting in the leadoff spot, was 4-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. After the Spartans scored a run in the second on an error (an odd play in which the throw on Casey Fanning’s two-out ground ball drew the first baseman off the bag, allowing Cassandra LaFauci to score after she, as well as everyone else, assumed the inning was over), Butler’s two-run double made it 3-0.Molly Doyle (double) and LaFauci (single) each knocked in a run in the third to increase St. Mary’s lead to 5-0. Butler came around in the fourth after Kaleigh Finigan’s fly ball was dropped by the left fielder, which made the score 6-0.The Spartans scored their final two runs in the bottom of the sixth when Alexandria Fisher was hit by a pitch (the second time she was plunked during the game), Butler doubled, and Victoria Viger sent them both home with a single.St. Mary’s advances to the Division 3 North quarterfinals today and will face Marian at Breed (4). A win against the Mustangs would put the Spartans in the semis against either the undefeated top seed (Shawsheen) or the team that defeated them in the D3 North final last year (Matignon).Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].