After defeating both Sci-Tech (5-4) and Pioneer Valley (16-3) Friday to close the season, Saint Mary’s finishes with a 14-6 (7-3 Bi-County North) record and will now await their seed in the Division IV Tournament.
The Saints fell behind midway through the game to the two-win Cybercats, but used a fifth-inning rally to pull ahead and defeat Sci-Tech, 5-4, in game one of an unusual doubleheader.
“I think they showed up expecting this game to be easier than it was,” said Head Coach Troy Collins. “You can’t just show up and play. This game will humble you in a hurry if you do that. It’s tough when they know they have two games, but we have to continue this. We’re happy to come away with a win.”
Saint Mary’s (13-6, 7-3 Bi-County North) jumped on top early, scoring two runs in the first inning and a single run in the second inning, aided by a trio off Sci-Tech errors. Shaun Gezotis started the game by reaching on a throwing error, then came home on another throwing error forced by Charlie White’s groundball.
In the second inning, Nate Bonini led off by reaching on another throwing error, then advanced to third base before the visitors from Springfield threw the ball in. The Saints’ second baseman would later score on the lone wild pitch thrown by Sci-Tech starting pitcher Richard Lopez.
Lopez held the Saints offense scoreless for the next two innings, but the hosts regained the lead in the fifth inning on the back of another Cybercat error. White led the inning by reaching on the third throwing error from third base, the first time the leadoff batter reached for the Saints since the second inning.
With two on and one out, Ryan Gendron drove in White to tie the game and senior Harry Reid drove in the eventual winning run on a sacrifice fly to left field, putting SMHS up 5-4.
“It’s easy to lose focus when you have a mixture of seniors and a lot of young players,” said Collins. “It’s easy to lose focus when you look ahead and see that we’re up by a few runs, and then you start giving at-bats away and next thing you know, you’re down 4-3 in the fourth inning. It’s tough to turn on and off, but it does happen.”
Jacob Butler earned his first victory of the season in his first start for the Saints, pitching a complete game, giving up four runs, three of which coming in Sci-Tech’s big fourth inning to take the lead. The freshman struck out five Cybercats, as well as retire 10 of the last 12 batters of the game to preserve the victory.
“Jacob pitched very, very well and he pitched as well as we expected him to,” said Collins. “We kept his pitch count in the low 80s, so I was very happy with his performance. If we had supported him a little better, and made some plays that we usually make behind him, it might have been a lot easier on him.”
The Saints continue their unusual doubleheader Friday night, resuming their Wednesday night non-conference showdown with Pioneer Valley. Serving as the final game of the regular season, the scheduled Senior Night game was suspended due to rain with the visiting Panthers ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning.
St. Mary rallied for five runs in the bottom of the first inning, and cruised to a 16-3 victory.
