PEABODY — The St. Mary’s softball team was firing on all cylinders Saturday in a six-inning 18-0 rout at Central Catholic League rival Bishop Fenwick.
St. Mary’s starter Lily Newhall went all six innings, allowing just two hits with two strikeouts.
“I think it’s funny, how we work is very symbiotic,” St. Mary’s coach Paige Licata said. “Our season has worked that way. When our defense is playing well, our offense is playing well and vice versa. I was happy to see Lily pitch well and our defense was backing her up. Our offense was also supporting that as well. It was nice to see it all come together.”
Leadoff hitter Christina Nowicki (4-for-5 with three RBI) started the game with a triple and was a double shy of hitting for the cycle. Talia Smaller (3-for-5 with five RBI) hit a grand slam in the sixth to break open the game. Katie O’Neil (2-for-4 with three RBI) and Marina DiBiasio (4-for-5 with two RBI) also had key hits. Felicia D’Alessandro added one RBI.
“Christina has been awesome all year,” Licata said. “She’s a phenomenal player. That’s why she’s our leadoff batter. She does hit for power but she is that tone setter. When you start off that way it gets everyone going. The adrenaline starts going and the positivity and momentum starts going our way right from the start.”
Where the Spartans succeeded, Fenwick struggled. The Crusaders only managed two hits on singles from Stephanie Steriti and Sophie Dunn. Fenwick didn’t make things easy for starting pitcher Emma Burke (5 2/3 innings) with eight errors in the field.
“We made too many mistakes,” Fenwick (2-3) coach Michelle Zullo said. “The errors are hurting us right now but we’re capable of playing clean. That really hurt us in the early innings.
“Our past two games we had cleaned it up a lot,” Zullo said. “St. Mary’s is a good team. They’re an experienced team, they’ve been together for a while. I just don’t think we had the confidence out in the field.”
Nowicki got the Spartans started one the first pitch, lacing a line drive to left field and legging out a triple. D’Alessandro came up next and drove Nowicki in with a single to give St. Mary’s a 1-0 lead.
An infield error and a walk by Jordan Sullivan put runners on for St. Mary’s in the second. O’Neil drove in a run on a ground out to put the Spartans ahead 2-0. After St. Mary’s had a runner caught stealing, Nowicki ripped a line drive and legged out a home run to stretch the Spartans lead to 3-0.
It was more of the same in the third inning. St. Mary’s capitalized on two Crusaders infield errors and a single from DiBiasio to go ahead 5-0. Later in the inning Nowicki drove in Taylor Sullivan and Alyssa Grossi on a single to put the Spartans ahead 7-0.
Meanwhile, Fenwick had no answers for Newhall on the mound. The freshman right-hander was perfect through three innings with a pair of strikeouts.
The Crusaders managed to get runners on in the fourth with a single from Stephanie Steriti and a walk from Tessa Palermo, but they couldn’t get the big hit they needed.
St. Mary’s added one run each in the fourth and fifth innings. Smaller drove in Sam Porazinski with a single in the fourth and O’Neil laced a double and came all the way home to score after an outfield error to put the Spartans ahead 9-0 in the fifth.
The Spartans piled it on in the sixth inning, scoring nine runs on six hits. DiBiasio got the inning started with a 2-RBI double and from there St. Mary’s capitalized on a pair of errors to go ahead 12-0. A few batters later O’Neil plated two runs with a RBI single. With the bases loaded, Smaller came through with a grand slam to put the Spartans ahead 18-0 and seal the victory.
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SUNDAY
St. Mary’s 15, Matignon 0
Angelia Pepe pitched a shutout and the Spartans improved to 7-1 with a win at Matignon. St. Mary’s hosts Archbishop Williams Monday (4) for its third game in as many days.