Satisfying finish for Spartans

The Spartans don't care.

After surviving a wild three innings that featured plenty of runs and plenty of mistakes, St. Mary's tied it with two runs in the third and broke the 5-5 deadlock in the fourth with a run-scoring, stand-up triple to left by junior Kristina Burri. The next batter, junior Maria Nazzaro, added insurance when her grounder to the mound was overthrown at first, allowing Burri to score.

"It was good once we got the hit parade started," Burri said. "When someone gets a hit, everybody always gets a hit. Once we got on top, everyone relaxed."

Coach Colleen Newbury noticed the jitters from the beginning, when her team assembled to head to Rockwood Field.

"We met at school early and they were just . . . it was raw emotion," Newbury said. "They were nervous, they were excited. And then we played that way. Like all of a sudden, we forgot it was a game of softball: the ball's the same size, the bases are the same length apart. Once I think all that happened and transpired, we just sort of calmed down, played our game, and eventually, seven innings later . . ."

Junior Erin McAndrews opened the game's scoring with a sacrifice fly to right in the first inning.

"A lot of teams get nervous in games like this, including these two teams," said McAndrews. "But afterwards, everybody calmed down and we played like we normally played."

Burri was thinking home run on her big hit, but even though she settled for the triple, it still turned out much bigger than what she had planned going into the at-bat.

"It was a hit-and-run play and I was trying to get the ball down," she said. "It just ended up going down the line and I was just trying to protect the runner."

Things finally settled after that with Samantha Kiley going the last three innings to complete five innings of scoreless relief by the Spartans (19-8).

But the first few innings were far from perfect - on both sides. Monty Tech (23-2) made two errors that accounted for both St. Mary's runs in the first. But the Spartans made a pair of errors in the bottom half to help the Bulldogs score three runs. After Paige Quinn drove in a run with a single to left to make it 2-1, Tori Holbert and Kelsie Twombly drew bases-loaded walks from Vanessa LaFauci to put Monty ahead.

In the second, St. Mary's Brittany Hanscom put down a sacrifice bunt, but runner Jenna Fraher was caught between second and third. She was saved, though, when the throw went past third base, allowing Fraher to tie the game.

The Bulldogs hopped back ahead with a sacrifice by Kelly LaCroix, followed by an infield single that drove in a run for a 5-3 edge. But Monty Tech continued its error-marred afternoon in the third inning. A overthrow to home allowed Michelle Macchione to score from second after a triple by Kristen Mondello. The next batter, Ariel Larosa, grounded to third, but the throw was dropped at first, allowing Mondello to tie it, 5-5.

"A team like [St. Mary's] is not going to quit and any team at this level is not going quit," said Bulldogs coach Dave Reid, whose team committed six errors. "Our girls came back and gave it an effort but just didn't have it.

"Not throwing to the right spot at the right time and not doing the right plays when they had them and things like that - besides the physical errors, there were a few mental errors out there, too. You can't win when you play like that."