St. Mary’s falls in Division 3 state semifinal

LOWELL – When Greater New Bedford left the bases loaded in the first inning, St. Mary’s fans had to be thinking their team had just dodged a bullet.View Photo GalleryThe Bears had managed to scratch out one run on three hits and two walks, but the Spartans have a way of making missed opportunities hurt.That wasn’t the case this time, however, as Greater New Bedford hunkered down defensively and did just enough with the bats to pull out a 3-0 win in the Division 3 state semifinal Wednesday at James Martin Field in Lowell.The Spartans struggled against the Bears’ freshman pitcher Neely Eddleston, particularly in the early going when she fanned six in the first three innings.”We saw them play the other night,” St. Mary’s coach Colleen Newbury said. “We knew their pitcher and catcher were good and defensively, they played well.”The Bears scored what would be the winning run in the first inning when shortstop Rileigh Avila singled up the middle and ended up scoring from third on a throw down to second on a steal. Greater New Bedford saw any shot at a big inning die on a strikeout with the bases loaded.St. Mary’s only mustered three hits off Eddleston and two were by center fielder Alexandria Fisher, who singled in the first inning and doubled in the third. The Bears padded the lead a bit in the fourth inning by taking advantage of a couple of St. Mary’s throwing errors.Mollie Mayer bunted to the mound with runners on second with one out. St. Mary’s pitcher Michaela Hamill (who pitched the first four innings, with Mia Nowicki going the rest of the way) got the out at first, but the throw to from first to home was wild, allowing one run to scored, and the throw back to the plate to nab the second runner was dropped.The Spartans (17-8) were flawless defensively the rest of the way, but the offense sputtered. They hit the ball hard, but the Bears made the plays.”They executed a lot better than we did and the team that executes, wins,” Newbury said.”We didn’t get the timely hitting with two outs that we usually get.”The Spartans were up against a red-hot team. After starting the season 7-3 and seeing it slide to 9-9, the Bears won 12 straight games including the state semifinal. Greater New Bedford coach Mark Collins said his team lost its senior pitcher to an elbow injury nine games in, forcing him to call Eddleston up from the junior varsity.The freshman was in the circle the rest of the way. Over the past four games she hasn’t allowed an earned run and her last three wins have been shutouts.”She worked her change-up in,” Collins aid of her effort last night. “Her curve and rise ball were also working.”Collins said this is the furthest any Bears (21-9) softball team has gone in the tournament. He’s been head coach for three years.”Their coach (Newbury) has done a good job over there,” he said. “We knew if we made mistakes, they’d be waiting.”Despite the loss, Newbury was happy with the season.”We probably exceeded expectations,” she said.Newbury loses four players to graduation – Fisher, catcher Tatiana Doucette, who had the Spartans other hit, Jennie Mucciarone and Alexis Mango.”We had great senior leadership this year,” she said.The Bears will play Turners Falls Saturday in the Division 3 state final.