St. Paul softball beat Holy Cross 10-4 back on May 4 at Joan Joyce Field in Waterbury. When it comes to the postseason, however, the Crusaders have had the upper hand.
That trend continued on Saturday in the Class S quarterfinal round when No. 3 Holy Cross posted a 13-8 win over No. 6 St. Paul in an all-NVL slugfest at Holy Cross High School. After dropping an NVL quarterfinal to Watertown, the Crusaders (20-4 overall) have won three straight postseason games. Holy Cross will play No. 7 Coginchaug (18-5) on Monday at 4 p.m. in a semifinal clash at Frank Biondi Field on the campus of West Haven High School.
It was Holy Cross’ fourth win in as many attempts against St. Paul in postseason play over the past five seasons. The Crusaders also eliminated the Falcons from Class S in 2015, 2017 and 2018. Holy Cross beat St. Paul 4-0 for the Class S title in 2017.
Jenna Mowad had a big day for Holy Cross with a home run and five RBI, according to the story about the game by Jason Levy of The Strike Zone. Val Nobrega had a triple, three runs scored and three RBI while Allie Brown tallied two hits, scored four times and drove in two runs.
Nobrega and Brown, both seniors, are familiar with postseason success. They, along with fellow seniors Hannah Brown and Carley DeFoe, were all part of the state championship runs in 2016 and 2017. After the seniors graduate on Sunday morning, Holy Cross will try to get back to the Class S final in its game against Coginchaug. The Crusaders have played in the last four Class S finals, losing last year to Stafford, 5-4.
Ava Hampton (triple) and Caleigh McDougall each scored two runs for St. Paul in the loss. The Falcons finished the season 19-6 overall. It was the final game for St. Paul seniors Jess Persechino, Abby Poirot, McKenzie Gauthier, Rebecca Nerbonne, Hannah Orzel, Carolyn Marchak and Julia Sosnowski.
Persechino and Poirot have been big pieces of the St. Paul program since their freshmen season in 2016. The Falcons reached the Class S championship game in 2017 and won at least one state tournament game in each of the past four seasons. St. Paul was also a quarterfinalist in 2018.
Photo captions (Cover): Meg Dwyer, right, Brandi McIntosh, left, and Holy Cross are headed back to the state semifinals after a 13-8 win over St. Paul. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69, file)
Top: Holy Cross bats during the May 4 game against St. Paul. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69, file)
Middle: St. Paul coach Gary Hovhanessian, left, and Abby Poirot, right, look on during the May 4 game. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69, file)
