LYNN — There was plenty of drama at the 25th Agganis All-Star softball game Sunday at Fraser Field. The game came down to the last batter for the North team in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Thanks to some crafty baserunning from Bishop Fenwick’s Mia Mercurio, the North team rallied to salvage a hard-fought walk-off 5-5 tie. Mercurio led off the inning with a walk, then took off to steal second. She came all the way around to score the tying run, courtesy of two South throwing errors.
“It was a great day and the girls were just great,” Lynn English and South coach Ashley Aldred said. “It was fun to meet these girls from all over for the first time and be able to coach them. They were giving it their all to try to win, but a tie is second best.”
Fenwick’s Brian Seabury coached the North team.
“We just wanted this to be about the kids; let them coach the bases and let them hit,” he said. “Whatever follows, it’s just all about the experience at the end of the day.”
St Mary’s ace Anna Fringuelli (3-for-4, run, RBI) was named South MVP. She wasn’t too shabby in the circle either, allowing one unearned run on four hits with six strikeouts and coming up clutch in a big way in the bottom of the third. Trailing 2-1, North had the bases loaded and no outs. But Fringuelli slammed the door shut, striking out the next three batters to end the threat.
“I was struggling a little bit to get my pitches to work. I knew a lot of the players, so I felt really confident that they would make the plays behind me,” Fringuelli said. “I also felt confident with Bo (catcher Isabel Bettencourt) supporting me that I could throw my curveball, so we brought that into the game and we were striking people out.”
Beverly’s Mya Perron (1-for-2, run, RBI) was named North team MVP. With two outs in the fourth, she jumped all over reliever Kristi Skane’s first pitch, smashing a long home to left that knotted the game 2-2.
South jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Fringuelli singled and scored on a fielder’s choice by Skane, who scored on a single by Peabody’s Penny Spack (2-for-3).
North cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the third. Mercurio (1-for-2, 2 runs) led off with a single and advanced to second on Crusaders’ teammate Lilly Bonacorsi’s (1-for-3) single. A single by Gloucester’s Manueli Lezaido loaded the bases for fellow Fisherman Ashlee Aiello, who drilled a ball that skipped under the third baseman’s glove, scoring Mercurio.
South staged a two-out rally in the sixth to bump its lead to 5-2. St. Mary’s Ang Catino was hit by a pitch and scored on a single by Bettencourt. Peabody’s Lauren Malcolm (2-for-3) reached on an infield hit and scored a wild pitch. Bettencourt then made it a 5-2 game on Fringuelli’s RBI single.
North cut the deficit to 5-4 in its half of the inning with two unearned runs and had the bases loaded, but Skane struck out the final batter to get out of the jam.
“Anna and Kristi pitched great for us. Both of them got out of situations that you don’t want to be in, especially on this field where the balls can get in the gaps and keep rolling,” Aldred said.
“It was a great game with everybody and just being able to get on base a couple of times was a great experience,” Malcolm said.
Winthrop’s Gabrielle Golden (1-for-4, South) and Wakefield’s Paige Butland (1-3, run, North) also contributed.
