PEABODY — Nobody saw this one coming.
In what was expected to be a much-anticipated rematch of an early season pitchers’ duel that ended with a Crusaders’ 1-0 walkoff win over cross-city rival Peabody, Monday afternoon’s softball game between the Crusaders and host Tanners at the Kiley School turned out to be a dud.
With Fenwick ace and senior captain GiGi Aupont sidelined with an injury, the Tanners jumped all over the Crusaders’ pitching, hitting the ball hard from start to finish, a finish that ended in a 19-0 mercy-rule win for Peabody.
Shortstop and senior captain Logan Lomasney, was 3-for-4, smashing two home runs and driving in six runs. Fellow senior captain Abby Bettencourt (3-for-4, 2 runs, 4 RBI), sister Lizzy Bettencourt (3-for-3, 2 runs), Caitlyn Burke (2-for-2, run, double, 3 RBI), Alana Sweeney (1-for-3, run, 2 RBI), J.J. Emerson (1-for-1, run, 2 RBI), and Avery Bettencourt (1-for-2, 2 runs, RBI) weren’t too shabby either.
“I’ve struggled the last few games so it felt good to let loose a little bit,” Logan Lomasney said. “I felt good before the game on my 15 or so swings and when asked if I wanted to take some more as Fenwick was late, I said ‘No, I’m good.’ My teammates were all awesome today. Everyone looked and felt great at batting practice and it all came out today.”
Head coach Steve Lomasney conceded that while nobody enjoys a game like this one, it’s still important to maintain the focus and play hard – no matter what the score.
“We had been practicing in anticipation to get their ace, but unfortunately she wasn’t able to step in the circle,” he said. “But it’s out of our control and we still have to win the game, but while it’s unfortunate for them because they are super competitive when she is in the circle, our girls still had to go out there and they had to swing the bat, put balls in play and execute defensively. Abby still got to pitch and we needed to defend so we did everything we needed to do. Today it came down to being able to adjust to their pitching and we did that so this was a good win with quality at-bats. Collectively we found a way to figure it out.”
Abby Bettencourt went the distance in the circle, allowing just one base hit in 4.5 innings and walking two.
Fenwick’s Sofia Longo was the spoiler, breaking up Bettencourt’s no-hit bid with a clean single up the middle in the top of the fourth. Giuliana Micciche and Katy O’Brien split the pitching duties for Fenwick.
Fenwick head coach Brian Seabury was realistic about the lop-sided loss.
“Pitching and catching is huge in this game so when you lose that, the dropoff is pretty significant. My kids haven’t thrown in three years but they threw strikes for the most part, so I can’t be unhappy with the way the two of them stepped up when they had to as it wasn’t easy. Peabody hit the ball hard, so credit to them. It is what it is and hopefully, GiGi gets better so we can finish this season up. Today you could see how important she is to this team.”
Despite the outcome, Seabury found a couple of silver linings.
“Sofia hit the ball well and had some good at-bats and had a good game at third,” he said. “My catcher, Gabby Maiuri, did a good job handling the two new pitchers as well. We knew it was going to be tough so we’ll try to regroup for the next one.”
Steve Lomasney complimented the play of the reserves.
“They don’t get a lot of time to play and I was proud of what they did when they got the chance,” she said. “Obviously, we were expecting to see GiGi pitch, but it’s also hard when you are expecting her speed and then having to adjust to something totally different, so all the girls did well today making those adjustments.”
Both teams return to league play on Wednesday. The Crusaders (7-4) are at home against Cardinal Spellman at 3:30 p.m., while the Tanners’ (7-2) next game is at Masconomet at 4 p.m.
Seabury said that the Crusaders’ goal is to win the CCL title, starting with a win over Spellman.
“Spellman is a team that always plays us tough, but right now, it’s one of those games where we are in control of our destiny in terms of winning the league,” Seabury said. “We need to beat Spellman, Bishop Stang, and AC to win the conference championship so that’s where the focus is right now.”
