PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Katie Terban gets a hold of a pitch.
By KATIE MORRISON
LOWELL — The St. Mary’s softball team knew what it would be up against in the Division 3 North final, as the Spartans took on Catholic Central League rival Austin Prep. They knew there wouldn’t be much room for error.
Just one bad inning, during which the Cougars scored four times, did in the Spartans, as they fell, 4-0, at Martin Field Sunday.
Mia Nowicki got the start for St. Mary’s, despite being diagnosed with mononucleosis last week. Nowicki battled through three innings, allowing no hits but walking a batter each inning. She also struck out four, but nothing came easy. The Cougars made her work and throw a lot of pitches despite the fact she didn’t allow a hit.
St. Mary’s coach Paige Licata lifted Nowicki for Michaela Hamill to begin the home half of the fourth, and Hamill sent down the Cougars in order.
But the wheels came off for the Spartans in the fifth. Austin Prep’s Rebecca Lowe led off the frame with a double, and scooted to third when Caroline Sablone pushed a bunt that Hamill had to field, and beat the throw to first. Another bunt single, this one by Julie Barthelmess, loaded the bases for the top of the order.
Lauren Sablone knocked in the game’s first two runs on a double to center. St. Mary’s got an out on a heads up play by third baseman Katie Terban, who caught Barthelmess hung up between third and home on a grounder off the bat of Kendra Currier. But two more base hits brought in two more runs before St. Mary’s could work out of the jam.
Nowicki came back in after the damage was done in the fifth and quieted the Cougars in the sixth. But the Spartans couldn’t get anything going against Austin Prep sophomore Logan MacDonald, who allowed four hits and a walk in a complete-game shutout. Singles from Hamill and Christina Nowicki looked like the start of a two-out rally in the fourth, but that’d be St. Mary’s best chance to score.
“I knew it was going to be a battle. Everyone knew that,” said Licata. “I’d like to try it again tomorrow, it might be a different outcome. It really just depends on the day. It was just one inning, and we knew that offensively, one of us was going to have that one inning. Unfortunately, it wasn’t us.”
Licata added that she was proud that it wasn’t errors or mistakes that led to Austin Prep’s big inning.
“Austin Prep just hit the ball well…can’t do anything about that,” she said. “That’s softball.”
The Spartans earned the right to face Austin Prep with a 5-2 win over top-seeded Whittier Saturday, also at Martin Field. The Hamill-Nowicki combination worked to perfection in the game.
Hamill, who played in the game despite the fact her great-grandmother Barbara Leonard’s funeral was at the same time, went the first four innings, giving up the two runs. Nowicki finished up, with eight of the nine outs she recorded coming by way of the strikeout.
The game was scoreless through three innings, but St. Mary’s took a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Vanessa VanBuskirk led off with a walk, and, with two outs, Christina Nowicki also drew one. A wild pitch moved the runners up, where they scored on Tori DiCenso’s single. After DiCenso went to second on the throw trying to nail Nowicki at the plate, Talia Smaller singled her in.
The Wildcats got two back in the bottom of the inning on base hits by Jacklyn Verrette, lena Faranna and Kayle Hobbs.
St. Mary’s got two runs in the top of the seventh to seal the deal. Like their win over Amesbury Thursday, it was a singles parade, with hits by Smaller, Emily Stephenson, Casey Fraher, VanBuskirk and Hamill producing the runs.
Mia Nowicki, who had struck out the side in the fifth and sixth innings, recorded two more Ks in the seventh before leadoff hitter Kaley Thibeault grounded out to second to end the game.
Item Sports Editor Steve Krause also contributed to this report.
