PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Michaela Hamill was dominant, allowing just four hits in the Spartans’ win over Boston Latin Saturday.
By GORDON VINCENT
LYNN – Michaela Hamill has pitched a lot of great games during her illustrious softball career at St. Mary’s. Few have been as good as her dominant outing in the Spartans’ 2-0 win over Boston Latin Academy, Saturday, in a Division 3 North first round tournament game at Grace Rogato Field.
The fourth-seeded Spartans (17-4) play Amesbury Tuesday (4), back at Breed, for the quarterfinals.
Hamill shut out the 13th-seeded Dragons (15-8) on four hits, three of which were of the infield variety. She struck out eight and walked none.
“She’s phenomenal,” St. Mary’s coach Paige Licata. “There’s a reason why she’s playing in college (at Endicott) next year. Not only does she throw strikes, she’s able to work the corners, inside and outside.”
Latin Academy pitcher Olivia McGrath was nearly as effective as Hamill, but defensive miscues allowed both St. Mary’s runs to score. McGrath yielded six hits, no walks, no earned runs and struck out 13.
The Spartans’ first run came in the bottom of the third inning, after Licata called her team into a huddle and gave them a pep talk. Frankie Simon responded by legging out a one-out double to shallow left-center field, and went to third on a wild pitch. Katie Terban followed with a sharp groundball that handcuffed Latin Academy shortstop Mackenzie Theriault, allowing Simon to score.
“I just reminded them that there are no second chances in the state tournament,” said Licata. “It’s not that we were playing badly, we just didn’t seem to have that intensity we needed to have.”
St. Mary’s other run came in the fourth inning. Casey Fraher reached on a one-out infield single and after McGrath struck out the next batter, Mia Nowicki smashed a line drive to right field. Latin Academy’s Olivia Fortune couldn’t decide whether to dive for the ball or play it on a hop, and the ball scooted under her glove. Fraher came all the way around to score and Nowicki made it to third, but she was stranded there when McGrath ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Dragons put a runner on third with two outs in the third thanks to a couple of errors and a stolen base by Michaela Russell, but Hamill ended the inning by inducing a comebacker from Shantary Pimentel. Latin Academy put the tying run on base with two outs in the seventh when McGrath laced a single up the middle and Kaileen Cotter reached when her roller back to the box went under Hamill’s glove, but Hamill induced a groundout to shortstop to end the game.
