LYNN — With plenty of changes and new faces on this spring’s roster, St. Mary’s softball coach Paige Licata knew challenges were ahead for the Spartans. St. Mary’s hasn’t made any excuses, but Tuesday afternoon’s 7-4 loss to Cambridge Rindge and Latin at Lynnfield High was proof the Spartans have room for improvement in the early going of the season.
Fielding errors and mental mistakes hurt the Spartans, who fell to 0-3 with the loss, and the Falcons capitalized. Cambridge ran out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never trailed.
“Physically we do a lot of great things,” Licata said. “Mentally we haven’t found out how to completely lock in when we’re playing good teams and I think that’s what cost us the game today, unfortunately.”
St. Mary’s received a valiant effort in the circle from freshman starting pitcher Angelia Pepe, who tossed five innings and fanned six Falcons batters. Sophomore Christina Nowicki came on in relief and pitched the final two innings.
“Angelia’s a freshman and I’m impressed with her so far,” Licata said. “Christina came in and did a great job also. We didn’t help her out. There are plays that go badly and lead to four bad plays. It’s hard. If we can make plays, we can get out of those innings. It all comes down to us buckling down and making plays that we should.”
Miscommunication in the outfield led to a 2-RBI single, getting Cambridge on the board in the top of the first inning. The Falcons added two more, on a RBI single and an infield error, putting the Spartans in an early 4-0 hole.
“That’s what we talked about postgame,” Licata said. “You can’t give good teams eight or nine outs an inning, that’s too many chances. That’s what we’re going to be working on moving forward, the mental things.”
St. Mary’s answered quickly, slimming the deficit in half in the bottom of the first. Gia Santaniello singled with one out and Talia Smaller drew a walk in the next at-bat. Jordan Sullivan scored them both with a 2-RBI triple, getting the Spartans back in the game.
Both teams were kept scoreless until Cambridge added a run in the fourth inning on an inside-the-park home run, boosting the Falcons lead to 5-2. Cambridge plated two more runs in the top of the sixth, making it a 7-2 Falcons advantage.
The Spartans strung together a rally in the bottom of the sixth. Santaniello led the inning with a walk and Smaller followed with a double. Alyssa Grossi laced a RBI single, bringing Santaniello home, to make it a 7-3 game. Marina DiBiasio’s RBI single got the Spartans within three, down 7-4, but a pair of mistakes on the basepaths ended the inning and got Cambridge out of the jam.
“It’s hard to pinpoint it as a coach,” Licata said. “We just have to play better. It comes down to mentally changing the pregame approach or focusing on what we’re doing wrong. It’s offense and defense. We have to execute in games and be 100 percent focused on what we’re doing on both sides of the ball.
“We have one senior who was here last year in our starting nine and that’s it,” Licata said. “We have to find our mojo and learn how to play together. If we can find our groove I think we’ll be ok for the rest of the season.”
St. Mary’s went down in order in the bottom of the seventh for the 7-4 final.
Still searching for their first win of the season, the Spartans will look to turn things around Thursday when they play Hamilton-Wenham.
