LYNN — It takes a near-perfect game to beat the Marblehead softball team. St. Mary’s knew that coming into Monday’s game but it just wasn’t the Spartans night.
Magicians pitcher Charlotte Plakans kept the Spartans bats at bay and her offense supported her with 11 runs as Marblehead rolled to an 11-0 win at Breed Middle School.
“It was good to see the offense get some timely base hits,” Marblehead coach Johnny Gold said. “Charlotte didn’t have a hit today but her teammates picked her up. That’s all you can ask for.”
Plakans threw seven innings, allowed four hits, walked two batters and tallied eight strikeouts.
St. Mary’s pitcher Angelia Pepe also went the distance, giving her Spartans another valiant effort in the circle through a tough game.
“Aneglia pitched really well,” St. Mary’s coach Paige Licata said. “There were a couple hits that hurt us and things like that but she held her own against a team with great hitters. Going seven strong is tough to do, we just need to back her up on the offensive side.”
Marblehead plated a pair of runs in the top of the first to claim an early lead. Mercedez Pelletier (2-for-5, RBI) and Sophie Vener (3-for-4, 2 RBI) led the frame with back-to-back singles. After a pair of pop-flies, Bel Sogoloff (1-for-3, 2 RBI) roped a 2-RBI single, scoring Pelletier and Vener to give Marblehead a 2-0 lead.
St. Mary’s settled down after that on the defensive side but the offense couldn’t get much going against Plakans. The Magicians ace retired the first six batters she faced before Sam Porazinski (1-for-3) singled in the bottom of the third. Porazinski took second on a bad Marblehead throw and skipped to third on Katie O’Neill’s (1-for-3) sac-bunt, but Plakans buckled down to grab the next two outs and escaped the threat.
“We played great defense,” Gold said. “We missed a few opportunities but we talked about that after the game. The defense was great. Hannah Garthe was outstanding in centerfield. Charlotte pitched a great game. Mercedez was great at shortstop. Sophie, our second batter did a great job. Jolie’s (Quintana) a freshman at catcher and she’s getting better and better.”
The Magicians tacked on two more in the top of the fifth. Vener singled and Plakans followed with a walk. Sam Treff moved the runners to second and third on a sac-bunt. They scored on a 2-RBI single from Madi Ernst, stretching the Magicians lead to 4-0.
Jordan Sullivan (1-for-2, walk) led the bottom half of the fifth with a single but a tough luck double-play negated the Spartans of a scoring opportunity.
“We had some tough bounces,” Licata said. “Angie pitched the whole game and she worked so hard. Their girls were foul-tipping and she had to work extra hard. It’s tough to do that against a good team. We had a tough day on both sides.”
A RBI each from Pelletier and Vener in the sixth made it a 6-0 Magicians lead. Marblehead pushed across five more runs in the seventh for the 11-0 win.
“Similar to all our losses, when we’re not offensive we lose,” Licata said. “We either wait around to score runs or we let teams slowly hit off us and then we can’t keep up. It gets away from us. I think hitting’s important because it keeps us more into the game.
“Five of our six losses have been to really great teams,” Licata added. “That’s what we’re going to see and that’s why we schedule tough non-league opponents. We have to be offensive going into the postseason. That’s our biggest thing.”
St. Mary’s (9-6) visits Archbishop Williams this afternoon (3:30), one win shy of a state tournament berth. Marblehead (15-1) hosts Beverly Wednesday (4).