Hamill strikes out 13 as Spartans advance to Division 3 North semifinals

LYNN – Michaela Hamill dominated on the mound as the No. 3 St. Mary?s Spartans beat the No. 6 Latin Academy Dragons, 4-1, to advance to the Division 3 North semifinal.
Two days after knocking an inside-the-park grand slam to propel the Spartans to a win over Georgetown, Hamill, a Lynn native, threw six-plus innings and gave up just one run on three hits while striking out 13, keeping the Latin Academy batters off balance by changing speeds constantly. She struck out the side in each of the first three innings.
The Spartans (18-4) struck first in the bottom of the second. Vanessa VanBuskirk started the inning off with a single and was sacrificed to second by Jessica Martiniello, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases. Katarina Roy, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, then stepped up and knocked an RBI double over the center fielder?s head to give St. Mary?s a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans scored again in the third when senior shortstop and Lynn native Molly Doyle knocked in Katie Terban with an RBI single.
Martiniello started the fourth inning with a single, then stole second base. Roy followed with another RBI double, this time to left field. On the next play, she scored on an error by the first baseman, giving St. Mary?s a 4-0 lead.
?The timely hitting was huge for us today,” said St. Mary?s coach Colleen Newbury. “We were able to get runners to second and knock them in, so that was great.”
Hamill continued to breeze through hitters until she ran into some trouble in the top of the seventh. The first batter of the inning reached on an error. Hamill then gave up two straight hits and the Dragons were able to push a run across.
Mia Nowicki, fresh off a 15-strikeout performance against Georgetown Saturday, came in with two on and no outs to preserve the lead. After an illegal pitch moved the runners up to second and third, Nowicki struck out three batters in a row to clinch the win.
?They were both in the zone today,” Newbury said of Hamill and Nowicki. “They?re just so poised out there and they work so well together. It?s huge this time of year.”
The Spartans move on to play No. 7 Austin Prep Wednesday in the Division 3 North semifinal at Martin Field in Lowell. The Cougars beat Weston in the first round, 14-0, then beat Whittier in the quarterfinal, 8-5.
?We?ve already seen them twice this year, and we?ve played two really good games,” Newbury said. “They?ve got really solid pitching over there, so we?re going to have to keep up this level of play.”
Mike Alongi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @m_alongi.