EVERETT — The St. Mary’s softball team got contributions all over the batting order Wednesday and stormed to a 19-6 five-inning win over Pope John at Edith Street Park.
The Spartans came out swinging the bats from the start, scoring six runs in the first inning thanks to a pair of three-run home runs from Sam Porazinski (2-for-2, two walks, three RBI, four runs) and Taylor Sullivan (1-for-3, walk, three RBI, two runs). All St. Mary’s starters either scored or drove in a run.
“Our last win was 3-0 in a tough game against Classical so it’s good to see the girls bounce back (Wednesday) with a lot of offense,” St. Mary’s coach Paige Licata said. “That’s good to see headed into the end of the season and the postseason that we can still produce.”
Marina DiBiasio (2-for-3, walk, two runs), Felicia D’Alessandro (2-for-4, walk, three runs) and Talia Smaller (2-for-4, walk, two runs) each drove in two runs. Christina Nowicki scored two runs with one RBI while Katie O’Neil had one RBI.
Angelia Pepe pitched all five innings for the Spartans, allowing four earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts. The Spartans allowed four runs in the first inning but took full control the rest of the way.
“I thought the defense and pitching was great,” Licata said. “It’s good for us to get into some situations where we have to come back. I’m proud of them because they did battle. Those innings that are tough can be hard to come back from. We showed that it wasn’t a problem for us and we were still able to capitalize.”
Nowicki got the Spartans started with an infield single and D’Alessandro followed with a bunt single. That put two runners on for Porazinski’s three-run home run. DiBiasio and Smaller came through with a pair of singles and Sullivan laced a three-run home run of her own to stretch the lead to 6-0.
Pope John answered in the bottom of the first. An error, walk and single loaded the bases before a grand slam to center field scored four runs and cut the Spartans lead to 6-4.
The Spartans didn’t let that stop their offensive production. D’Alessandro reached on a single and scored after an error and a pair of passed balls to put St. Mary’s ahead 7-4. Then the Spartans cashed in on another error and a walk with a two-run single from DiBiasio to stretch the lead to 9-4. Another walk and a pair of errors let two more runs score before D’Alessandro and Smaller each laced a two-run single to give St. Mary’s a commanding 15-4 lead.
The Spartans added two more runs in the third inning. Jordan Sullivan walked and pinch-runner Alyssa Grossi scored on via error. Nowicki laced a RBI single to put St. Mary’s ahead 17-4.
After walks from Porazinski and DiBiasio, the Spartans took advantage of more Pope John mistakes in the fourth inning. A passed ball scored Porazinski and an infield error plated DiBiasio to push the Spartans lead to 19-4.
Pope John added a pair of runs on a single and a St. Mary’s error in the fourth, but the Spartans coasted to the 19-6 win.
“Moving toward the tournament, all I’m looking for is what we can do to better ourselves for situations like (the bottom of the first inning),” Licata said. “Playing against good teams and having tough innings is something that will happen. I’m glad we showed resilience.”
With two games remaining in the regular season, the Spartans (15-3) will hope to stay hot before heading into the tournament. St. Mary’s is away at Essex Tech Friday (4) and hosts Newton South Sunday (7).