LYNN — Despite the wind and dust at Breed Field, St. Mary’s softball team (14-1) defeated Cardinal Spellman 6-1 to clinch the Catholic Central League title.
Coach Colleen Newbury, whose team still remains undefeated in conference play at 7-0, was full of emotions.
“It feels great,” Newbury said. “Usually, we do well in the league but sometimes we don’t always clinch it. It’s exciting for the girls.”
The Spartans got a dominant performance from starting pitcher Anna Fringuelli. Literally and figuratively, Spellman couldn’t figure out what was being thrown its way, resulting in 15 strikeouts on the box score.
“Anna was on today,” Newbury said. “Her and Roma Braid are such a good battery together. We talk about pitches and how to pitch to people and they really just do a good job. Roma does a great job setting the corner and Anna has such great command of the strike zone.”
Not only was Fringuelli on from the mound, but she drove in the first run of the game with an RBI double.
“She’s been sort of doing that all year. She’s the leader offensively and defensively. We call her the ‘placeholder’ because she usually gets on base and someone knocks her in,” Newbury said. “But today, she was the one knocking the runs in.”
Sometimes, the little things go unnoticed, but to Newbury, she was sure to highlight Gabby Marichal who did a little bit of everything.
Marichal scored the second run of the game – alert on a passed ball before stealing home to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead.
Fast forward to later in the game, and Marichal showed her awareness after Ang Catino reached safely on an infield hit. She ran home as Spellman wasn’t keeping an eye on her to make things 4-1.
“People don’t notice the little things and Gabby did that for us today. She got a great jump, so, even though the ball didn’t get too far away, she was still able to score,” Newbury said. “On the second one, she read me and we just tried to sneak her in and she, again, got a great jump from second for her to score.”
The Spartans continued to put pressure on Spellman, adding insurance runs on every opportunity.
“The idea is to always play for one when you’re up, and to try and at least get one more each inning,” Newbury said.
Then, that St. Mary’s defense showed why it’s only lost one game this season. The Spartans tightened things up the remainder of the contest to eliminate a comeback bid.
“Defensively, I thought we played well,” Newbury said. “It’s easy to play defense when your pitcher strikes out 15.”
When asked about her team’s morale with just a few weeks remaining in the regular season, Newbury still looks for improvement.
“We just want to keep getting better each day,” Newbury said. “Step by step, we’re just getting a little bit better – just making the routine play and everyone understanding their roles.”
The CCL champions are back in action Thursday when they travel to face Newburyport at 4 p.m.
