PEABODY — With an elite pitcher, one could say you’ll always have a chance to win. Bishop Fenwick (1-1) had one on Wednesday, and the host Crusaders defeated St. Mary’s (0-2) by a score of 4-1.
Although it was a cold afternoon, there was a lot of heat coming from the mound as Fenwick’s Jaleila “GiGi” Aupont struck out 15 Spartans.
“Gigi did her thing again. It’s what we expect from her. She pretty much brings it every day and we don’t expect anything different,” said Fenwick coach Brian Seabury. “Defensively, we did what we were supposed to do, and we got timely hits today.”
It wasn’t straightforward for the Crusaders, as St. Mary’s freshman pitcher Aliza Crean-Oviedo (9 strikeouts) allowed just two hits across the first three innings.
“Aliza is only a freshman and she pitched awesome against Archbishop Williams and pitched great again today,” said St. Mary’s coach Colleen Newbury. “She gave up a few hits and we had a couple of blunders out there on defense, but we can’t expect teams not to hit. We just have to get timely hits.”
In the fourth, St. Mary’s Lori Suriel led off the inning with a triple. Then, junior Roma Braid brought home Suriel on a ground ball. Suriel was initially tagged at home, but the ball fell off the glove to give St. Mary’s a 1-0 lead.
But toward the bottom of the inning, Fenwick responded. Aupont led things off with a single and then advanced to second base after Katy O’Brien was hit by a pitch.
With two runners on, sophomore Sofia Longo drove home Aupont with an RBI single.
“Sophia had a big hit to bring in the run,” Seabury said.
From there, Seabury decided to have captain Meg Donnelly pinch hit with runners in scoring position. Donnelly delivered with an RBI single to make it 2-1.
“Meg has been hitting it well in practice. She saw some live pitching in the game the other day and she didn’t have the best results, but I had all the confidence in her today,” Seabury said.
It didn’t stop there for the Crusaders. Lola Amendolare brought in the third run of the inning with a sacrifice hit (3-1).
“Today, we got contributions up and down the lineup. Everyone got in and everyone contributed,” Seabury said. “It was a really good team effort today.”
And after they took the lead, they didn’t look back, especially Aupont, who continued to give the Spartans trouble.
“We just came off facing a really dominant pitcher and, now, we faced another dominant pitcher. We obviously have seen her for the last three years, but I thought we had a really good plan coming in,” Newbury said. “We fouled a lot of balls out. We just couldn’t crack a hit with a couple of people on and that’s what makes [Aupont] good.”
Despite the 0-2 start, there are positives to take away, according to Newbury, who’s looking forward to, well, spring weather.
“It’s hard because the weather hasn’t been cooperative to get out and go against live pitching. I feel like the kids are swinging at good pitches. They’re hacking and not walking back to the dugout. They’re going after strikes and that’s all we can ask for right now,” Newbury said. “We just need to get our timing down.”
She also believes that, with time, her Spartans will find their own identity.
“Defensively, we’re looking pretty good. Our chemistry is good. We’re just looking forward to warmer weather,” Newbury said. “What’s hard is kids from the last two years tried to be like the other teams, but this team needs to find its own identity, which will come with time.”
