Cougars too much for Pats in season opener

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 3/31/16

The Pilgrim softball team was held hitless in the final four innings, as defending Division II runner-up North Providence coasted to an 8-2 victory in both sides’ first game of the year.

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Cougars too much for Pats in season opener

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The Pilgrim softball team was held hitless in the final four innings, as defending Division II runner-up North Providence coasted to an 8-2 victory in both sides’ first game of the year.

Cougars junior pitcher Arielle Lacroix went all seven innings, striking out five and walking only two to keep the Pilgrim bats at bay. Meanwhile, North Providence scored in each of the first five innings to pace a productive day at the plate.

“When she gets two strikes, she puts you away,” Pilgrim head coach Bill Aquilante said of Lacroix. “We didn’t wait around for that. We knew she wasn’t gonna walk a lot of people. We swung the bat better when we were in the game, we had better at-bats. When the game started to slip away a little bit, her confidence level went up and she was able to kind of pitch and throw to her spots and know she had a comfortable lead.”

The Pats hung with the Cougars early. Kaitlyn Manchester scored on a fielder’s choice to put North Providence ahead, 1-0, in the bottom of the first frame, but Pilgrim leveled the score. Rachael Serra sent a soaring fly ball to left field that scored Katrina Kazen from third base to knot the game at 1. The Pats had bases loaded with no outs in that inning, but only managed to bring Kazen home.

The Cougars, who didn’t strike out once, added two more in the second inning after starting pitcher Morgan Almon struggled with her control in the heavy wind gusts of Notte Park. She walked Caitlynn Douglas and Vanessa Arenas before a fielder’s choice moved them both into scoring position. Kayla Prior then came up clutch for the Cougars, smacking a wind-carried, two-RBI double to the left field fence to make it a 4-1 game.

Heads-up base running from senior captain Madison Balutowski allowed the Pats to cut into their deficit in the top of the third. She reached on a single into left center field, and Victoria Blanchard hit a dribbler in front of the plate that moved Balutowski into scoring position. She kept running, though, and beat the left fielder to third base.

“We talked about the first inning, that Maddie was gonna lead off with a hit, that Vic[toria] was going to bunt her over to second and she was going to continue going to third,” Aquilante said. “We think that Maddie can beat the left fielder. It kind of worked out later, it didn’t work out on a bunt, but it was a ball where I saw the left fielder late getting over, I knew Maddie was gonna get to third.”

Olivia King knocked Balutowski in with a bloop single to left field, getting Pilgrim within two runs, but that would be the last time the Pats got in the hit column. They would reach on a walk and two fielder’s choice plays, but no runner got past second base the rest of the day.

North Providence, meanwhile, added to its lead in the fourth when Kazen took over for Almon for her varsity pitching debut.

The Cougars did not welcome her kindly. Jessica Rizzo slapped an RBI single into left field that plated Manchester to up the advantage to 5-2. Rizzo stole second base and would later score on an error to keep Pilgrim at a distance.

“It wasn’t by design to get Katrina in today, but we will do that,” Aquilante said. “We’ll have games where Morgan will start and Katrina will go in. It wasn’t by design today, we were gonna have Morgan go as far as she could. We felt we needed another look, especially against a team like that, one through nine they hit pretty well.”

The Cougars effectively put it away in the fifth inning, tacking on two more using small ball and smart base running. Arenas walked to lead things off and advanced to second on Marisa Dilario’s sacrifice. Prior got on after a free pass and stole second base, setting up a one-out, second-and-third situation for Manchester.

The freshman delivered again, grounding a two-RBI double off the third base bag and into left field. Arenas and Dilario came around to score, putting the Cougars on top, 8-2, as the Pilgrim bats struggled. Two quick pop-ups and a groundout sealed the North Providence victory.

The Pats will have to bounce back in time for a road contest with Classical this Thursday at 3:45 p.m. at the turf field of the Al Morro Athletic Complex. The Purple finished in last place in Division II-West in 2015 with a record of 1-15.

“We’re gonna work on our defensive plays,” Aquilante said of Pilgrim’s preparation for Thursday’s game. “We’re gonna work on some of the things you saw with the bunts, because those are outs we can steal from teams. Our approach to the plate might be a little different. I don’t think you’re going to see anybody who can throw like Arielle, [but that] doesn’t mean that a pitcher can’t have success against us. So we really have to worry about how we’re going to attack whatever pitcher we see on Thursday.”

Note: This story was edited to correct the spelling of Rachael Serra's first name.

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