PEABODY — It took a little while for the St. Mary’s softball team to get going on Thursday afternoon, but after putting up six runs in the top of the sixth inning, the Spartans were able to come away with a 6-1 victory over Bishop Fenwick in a Catholic Central League bout at Bishop Fenwick High School.
The rally in the sixth was kicked off by Lily Newhall, who came off the bench to lead off the inning with a double and later scored the tying run.
“When you have your team leader step up like that and lead off the sixth inning with the double, that fires everyone up,” said St. Mary’s coach Colleen Newbury. “Everyone just fed off that energy, and we were really able to go on a run in that sixth inning.”
Emely Rodriguez led the offensive attack for the Spartans, going 1-for-3 with a double and two RBI. Newhall went 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored, while Jenna Chaplain went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Roma Braid (1-for-3, double), Ann Fringuelli (1-for-3) and Jill Kirby (1-for-3) also added hits for the Spartans.
Fringuelli picked up the win in the circle after tossing five innings and allowing one run on six hits with eight strikeouts. Newhall pitched the final two innings, giving up just one hit and striking out four.
“Anna really pitched well and got stronger as the game went on,” said Newbury. “The plan the whole time was for her to go five innings, and she really did her job well. We made some good defensive plays behind her and that’s what kept us in the game.”
Maisie Dunn went 1-for-2 with one RBI to lead the Fenwick offense, while Gigi Aupont (2-for-3), Giuliana Micciche (1-for-3, run scored), Hannah O’Brien (1-for-3), Mia Mercurio (1-for-3) and Lilli Bonicorsi (1-for-3) had hits in the loss.
Aupont took the loss in the circle despite pitching a solid game, allowing six runs on seven hits with 13 strikeouts.
“It’s obviously tough when you lose after having a lot of opportunities on the offensive side and then having one really bad inning out in the field,” said Fenwick coach Brian Seabury. “We hit the ball pretty well and played solid defense for five innings, but you can’t give a team that good six outs because they’re going to take advantage of those extra opportunities.”
The Crusaders had their opportunities to score, even loading up the bases in the top of the first. Bonicorsi stepped up and ripped a hard shot down the right field line, but Angelina Catino caught the liner and stepped on first base to turn a double play and get the Spartans out of the inning.
Fenwick did strike first, however, in the bottom of the second. It started with Micciche’s one-out single, then she advanced all the way to third base on an error. Next up was Dunn, who dropped down a perfect bunt single that brought Micciche home and made it a 1-0 game.
The score remained there until the top of the sixth, when Newhall sparked things with her leadoff double. After she advanced to third and Riley Williams drew a walk and took second base, Fringuelli hit a hard grounder to third base. The Fenwick throw sailed out of bounds and brought home two runs, giving St. Mary’s the lead and all of the momentum.
The Spartans kept rolling from there, as Fringuelli scored on a passed ball and then Rodriguez ripped a two-run double to blow the game open.
Newhall came on to pitch the final two innings from there, sealing the win with a solid pitching performance.
Bishop Fenwick (5-6) plays on the road at Triton Saturday night (7).
“It’ll be nice to get out of the league and see a different opponent,” said Seabury. “It’ll be nice to switch things up, play a night game and hopefully get back on a winning track.”
St. Mary’s (9-3) is right back in action Friday evening (5) on the road at Newton South.
“We’ve got a really young team and a lot of these girls didn’t play much in the field last year,” said Newbury. “We’re all still getting used to things and I’m trying to get the girls to think like I do out there, so we’ve just got to keep plugging away and things will continue to get better.”
