PEABODY — Everything was going right for the Bishop Fenwick softball team through four 1/3 innings Thursday. The Crusaders had built an early lead and pitcher Nicole Modica had cruised through four no-hit innings on Fenwick’s senior day against Latin Academy.
But things took a turn with one swing of the bat when Modica took a hard-hit line drive off her left arm. The Crusaders ace didn’t have any serious injuries but had to leave the game.
“It’s a very scary situation,” Fenwick coach Michelle Zullo said. “But she is one of the toughest people I know. It’s scary since our second pitcher wasn’t here (Thursday).”
Still ahead by one run, Fenwick turned to catcher Tessa Palermo, who hadn’t pitched all season, to close out the game. Palermo battled for two innings, allowing only one run on three hits and three walks, and gave the Crusaders a chance to walk things off in the seventh inning and earn a 3-2 win.
“Tessa isn’t a pitcher,” Zullo said. “The last time she pitched was seven years ago. She’s an amazing kid. If you tell her to do anything she is going to give her best effort and that’s exactly what she did.”
It was a defensive battle right from the start. Fenwick was just about perfect for four innings, allowing just three baserunners on a pair of errors and a walk with four strikeouts from Modica to keep the Dragons offense at bay.
“We’re very proud of the defense,” Zullo said. “We were down some of our key players (Thursday) but we made it work.”
The Crusaders bats finally came alive in the third inning. Rachel Fernades (walk, run) walked, Modica (1-for-2, run) bunted for a single and a Latin Academy error moved both runners into scoring position to start the inning. Lauren Wilkinson (2-for-4, two RBI) came through next with a two-run single to give the Crusaders a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, Modica ran into trouble after walking Serina D’Amico and Nyla James with one out. Michaela Russell came up next and hit the line drive that took Modica out of the game, scoring a run to cut the Fenwick lead to 2-1.
From there Fenwick had a battle on its hands. Palermo got the Crusaders out of the fifth inning and, despite finding herself in a bases loaded one-out jam, forced a fly ball and a ground out to get out of the sixth.
In the seventh inning, hits from James and Ellie Etemad-Gilbertson and a walk by Carleigh Schievink loaded the bases for the Dragons again. This time the Dragons capitalized, tying the game on a sacrifice fly by Caroline Conroy.
The next batter, Olivia McSharry, appeared to have knocked in the go-ahead run with a single. However, McSharry wasn’t eligible to hit after being replaced by a pinch runner earlier in the game. Crusaders’ assistant coach John Cunningham noticed and the at-bat was changed into an out, bringing the score back to a 2-2 tie.
Fenwick took full advantage of the momentum swing in the bottom half of the seventh. Grace Morey (1-for-2, run), who came into the game earlier as a pinch hitter, laced a double to right center to start things off. Wilkinson moved her to third on a ground ball and later in the inning Morey scored the winning run on a passed ball to give the Crusaders the 3-2 win.
“(Grace) is a freshman,” Zullo said. “So we have been trying to give her as many opportunities as possible. She stepped up when we needed her and we couldn’t ask for more.”
Now at 7-7 on the season the Crusaders find themselves right in the hunt for the state tournament, needing to win three of their last five games to earn a spot.
“We just have to play how we’ve been playing the last two games,” Zullo said. “(Thursday’s) game definitely showed a lot to everyone. When Nicole got taken out we could have just let (Latin Academy) take the game. We didn’t, we stayed strong and managed to pull in some hits and a run.”
Fenwick will play Peabody in the annual Corning Tournament Sunday (11).
