LYNN — Top-ranked St. Mary’s could seemingly do no wrong Saturday afternoon at Fraser Field, defeating No. 25 Masconomet 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the Div. 2 tournament. The Spartans advanced to the semifinals against No. 4 Milton (TBD).
St. Mary’s (20-3) put on a clinic in all phases of the game. From rock-solid pitching to crafty baserunning, to outstanding fielding and timely hitting, the Spartans did it all.
Starter Brennan Malloy (5 IP, 4 H, R, 2 BB) shined. Reliever JJ Avery picked up where Molloy left off, retiring six of the final seven batters to seal it.
Hagen Parent (1-for-3, 2 SB) and Jake Peterson (1-for-3, SB) delivered clutch hits for the Spartans. Masco’s lead-off hitter, Cal Weidman (2-for-4), knocked in the Chieftains’ lone run.
While the Spartans were outhit (5-4) by Masco, they more than made up for it on the basepaths with nine steals out of 10 attempts — including two daring double steals.
Coach Dereck Dana said it boiled down to the little things.
“We have some pretty good speed and the kids work hard at practice,” he said. “We were able to get some good jumps and that was definitely a key factor in the game. Baserunning is as important as any part of the game. It’s won us games and kept us in games this year. It’s the little things like that, that you have to take care of to be playing at this time of the year.”
“St. Mary’s is a good team,” said Masco coach Bryan Duplissie. “They earned everything they got and they played a good game. As a No. 25 seed, I don’t think our guys get enough credit for the great job they did to get to this point; (St. Mary’s) just made a couple more plays than we did.”
Malloy got off to a shaky start in the first inning. He gave up a lead-off single to Weidman and a walk to Benjamin Linehan. Malloy settled down and retired 13 of the next 14 batters he faced.
“They were hitting the fastball, so I felt like the curve ball and slider were working better,” Malloy said.
Nate Cutone (R, 2 SB) led off the second with a walk and stole second base. With one out, Masco starter Drew Gustafson (5 IP, 4 R, 4 H, 8 K, 3 BB) hit Kyle Doney. Both runners moved into scoring position on a double steal. Cutone scored on a wild pitch with Doney taking third, setting the stage for Parent (1-3, 2 SB, R, RBI), who brought Doney home with a perfectly-executed safety squeeze bunt to make it 2-0 in favor of the Spartans.
“Hagen got the safety squeeze down — that was fantastic,” Dana said. “It’s just trusting your guy to execute. His number got called and he got it down. That’s really good stuff when you execute the way you draw it up.”
“My only thought was to get the bunt down,” Parent said. “I had to pick a side, get it down the line, and make sure it stays fair. It’s a great feeling. It’s something I really take to heart during practice and BP, just to focus on getting it right down the line.”
Kalen Huddle led off the bottom of the third with a single up the middle. He advanced to second on a walk to Rolky Brea-Arias, stole third (double steal with Brea-Arias), and scored on a wild pitch to bump the Spartans lead to 3-0.
Weidman cut the Chieftains’ deficit to 3-1 with an RBI single in the top of the fifth.
St. Mary’s got that one back in its half of the inning. Michael DeMaino led off with a walk, stole second, and scored on Jake Peterson’s single to left field.
Dana praised the Spartans’ pitching and fielding.
“Brennan, again, was outstanding and JJ came in and just threw strikes,” Dana said. “The defense played great behind both guys all day. We had enough loud outs today and I was very proud of our outfield (Micah Hashikawa, Brea-Arias, and Parent). Both pitchers also had a couple of nice defensive plays.”
Malloy also had a shoutout for his defense, as well as Avery for polishing off the game.
“Our defense played amazing today, especially our outfield,” he said. “JJ and I have been on this team together for three years and it feels great watching him come out here and finish the game for the team.”
St. Mary’s has a chance to even the score against Milton, which defeated the Spartans on opening day.
“They beat us 7-5,” Dana said. “All I know is whoever we play the rest of the way is going to be very good.”
