ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Cheyenne Fullen takes a cut at a pitch.
BY KATIE MORRISON
LYNN – The Revere offense exploded for 25 runs and took down English in five innings, winning 25-2, at Grace Rogato Field on Wednesday.
The Patriots improved to 5-0, and seem to be rolling along without star pitcher Sabrina Palmero, an All-Scholastic who graduated after last season.
Revere relies on Gia Santinello as its ace this season. Revere coach Joe Ciccarello knows the lineup must perform if the Patriots want to keep winning.
The Pats did just that on Wednesday. English pitchers struggled to contain the deep lineup, and Revere put the game away early.
The first out of the game was sandwiched between three walks from starter Lindsey Lannon, who struggled with command. Gabby Cammarata came up with the bases loaded and made English pay for the walks, smacking a 2-RBI single. Alina Giuliano knocked in another run with a single. A bases-loaded walk to Cheyenne Fullen knocked in the fourth run of the frame for Revere. Another two walks and two singles later, the Bulldogs found their way out of the inning, but not before eight Patriots had crossed the plate.
While the Bulldogs were shaky on the mound, their lineup looked potent early on, especially the top four batters.
Sarah Tobin laced a double to deep center from the leadoff spot. Emma Trahant reached on a hit-by-pitch. That brought up veteran Rachel Calnan, who smoked a fastball to center to drive in two runs.
Unfortunately for English, Santinello settled down and changed speeds.
“They were attacking fastballs, so we had to get a little craftier at the plate and make sure we hit our spots a little better, and she got into a groove,” said Ciccarello. “Maybe she took them a little lightly at first, but she settled in.”
The Bulldogs would put just three more baserunners on the rest of the game, on a double from Tobin, a single from Tommi Hill and a walk from Trahant.
English coach Jack Bartlett couldn’t be reached for comment after the game.
Revere, on the other hand, never stopped hitting, and kept drawing walks.
Leadoff hitter Ally Hinojosa scored four times, drawing five walks and singling. Santinello doubled and walked four times. Victoria Correia had two hits, and Cammarata singled and walked twice. Guiliano singled twice and Fullen drew two walks and singled. Juliana Cecere had the best day of any Patriot by far, coming just a home run shy of the cycle with two singles, a double, a triple and a walk.
Ciccarello says that without a superstar pitcher, Revere has had to learn to win differently than they have for the past few years. A few runs may no longer be enough to sneak by some teams without Palmero’s arm.
“Our lineup is coming around,” he said. “Our goal this year is to win differently. When we had a 700-strikeout All-Scholastic kid in Sabrina, we won differently. We won on her arm.”
Now, the burden is on the lineup and the defense, which played a very clean game to keep English at bay.
“The ball’s going to be put in play more,” said Ciccarello. “We played Classical the other day and only had one strikeout, so we had to come up with 20 outs. Sabrina would average 10 strikeouts a game and make three plays herself, so we only had to make seven or eight. It’s a far cry from where we are. We’ve been talking about this from the get-go, but so far, so good.”