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| Holy Cross catcher Jenna Mowad rips a single to left field during Monday’s game against St. Paul. |
On Saturday, Oxford handed Seymour softball its first NVL loss since 2015.
What that game did was open up the race in the league for teams like Holy Cross and St. Paul. On Monday, those teams faced off in a NVL showdown at Holy Cross High School.
Big games often come down to mistakes, and the Crusaders both capitalized on and minimized the damage from errors to win 5-3.
Holy Cross improved to 10-1 while St. Paul dropped to 11-2. The two Falcon losses — the other was 5-3 to Seymour — have come by a total of four runs.
“It was definitely a big game, but I tell the girls every game is a big game,” Crusader head coach Meg Dwyer said.
Both teams seemed to play with the jitters that accompany a big game. There were six errors total between the teams — 4-2 Holy Cross — plus some other miscues that don’t go down in the scorebook.
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| St. Paul’s Brooke Perez dives back to first base as Holy Cross’ Alexandra Lomnbardo waits for the throw. |
Holy Cross got two big singles from Gabby Goldman, one to put it ahead 3-2 in the fourth and the other to extend the lead to 5-3 in the sixth. Hannah Brown was 2-for-4 with a RBI, which put the Crusaders ahead 4-2 in what turned out to be a four-run fourth. Lizzy Diorio had the other RBI, and that cut a deficit to 2-1. Sarah Lawton threw another complete game and gave up six hits and three unearned runs. She struck out seven and walked none.
St. Paul came away from the game thinking it blew a chance for a big victory.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” Falcon head coach Gary Hovhanessian said.
Still, St. Paul served notice that it’s not a fluke. The Falcons have to be considered a contender in Class S.
“We’re playing fine,” Hovhanessian said. “We knew going into the season that we would have a good team.”
Maybe others didn’t know, but now they do.
St. Paul struck for the first two runs of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Two errors on the same sacrifice bunt by Lindsey O’Bright brought in Alessandra Milardo with the first run. Two batters later, Katelynn Oullette singled the other way to right field to score O’Bright and make it 2-0.
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| St. Paul head coach Gary Hovhanessian has time for a teaching lesson. |
Holy Cross responded like a two-time state champion in the bottom of the fourth. Alexandra Lombardo walked with one out. Pinch runner Carley DeFoe was called safe at second base on a throw off a grounder to third from Val Nobrega. DeFoe may have been out, but the call didn’t go St. Paul’s way.
Lizzy Diorio singled to right and DeFoe slid in ahead of the throw to make the score 2-1. Nobrega moved up to third and Diorio moved up to second on the throw home. Jenna Mowad grounded to short and Nobrega was caught in a rundown, but the Falcons couldn’t get an out.
Aubry DeFoe grounded into a force, third to home, but the throw to first base went awry, allowing Diorio to score and tie the game. Goldman followed with the first of her two big hits, a single to right to score Mowad and put Holy Cross ahead 3-2. Hannah Brown made it 4-2 with a line-drive single to left center.
St. Paul showed plenty of fight. The Falcons turned a double play to end the fifth when Milardo caught a lined shot back to her and threw to first. In the top of the sixth, Abby Poirot singled with two outs to bring in Milardo and cut the deficit to 4-3.
“We’re battling in the NVL with them, we’re battling in Class S with them,” Hovhanessian said.
“They’re a good team, another well-coached team,” Dwyer said.
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| Holy Cross and St. Paul could meet again in the postseason, maybe more than once. |
In the bottom of the inning, Goldman singled off Milardo to drive in Mowad again and push the lead back up to 5-3. Milardo finished with three strikeouts, two walks and five runs on nine hits.
St. Paul did get the leadoff runner on in the seventh on an error, but it was erased in a rundown. There was a grounder to second, and after the throw to first, the runner was caught between second and third base. The last Falcon chance was extinguished before it could really get going.
The game left Hovhanessian wanting St. Paul to get another chance at Holy Cross.
“Hopefully we see them again along the way,” Hovhanessian said.
Dwyer likes the competition brought on by games like Monday.
“It’s a competitive softball game,” Dwyer said. “Two great pitchers, two good teams.”
Dwyer says every game is big, and the next one comes against 8-2 Watertown on Wednesday at home. First, Holy Cross gets a chance to work some of the bugs out.
“It’s been such a weird season with the rain,” Dwyer said. “We’re actually looking forward to practicing.”
The Crusaders and Falcons will look to tighten some things up when they get a chance. After all, these two teams could see each other in the postseason again, possibly more than once between the NVL and state tournaments.
PHOTOS: Click here to view images from Monday’s NVL softball battle.
