HYANNIS – Tied at 4-4 in one of the toughest high school softball match-ups seen this spring, the host St. John Paul II Lions saw visiting Nantucket plate two runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth en route to a 10-5 upset Thursday afternoon.
Nantucket’s Samantha Stewart kept the St. John Paul II softball bats off-balance in Thursday’s 10-5 win for the Whalers.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos
It was the first and only loss the Lady Lions have suffered in Cape & Islands League play this season and it put into jeopardy their hopes of an outright league title, even with a 10-2 overall record. St. John Paul II’s only other loss came at the hands of Sandwich in an extra-inning non-league affair last week.
The Whalers’ Samantha Stewart notched the win for the guests, as she went the distance and struck out three batters while scattering six hits, including a fifth-inning solo home run from Lions’ backstop Hadley Tate, her 10th of the campaign.
St. John Paul II senior co-captain and ace hurler Jackie Smith took the loss. She struck out nine and gave up 10 hits but three of the four runs she allowed Nantucket in the sixth were unearned. She walked none but allowed a two-run homer to Kezia Duarte in a three-run third inning. Duarte went 3-4 on the afternoon and was just a basehit from the cyle after belting a homer, triple and double.
Duarte’s two-out , two-strike double in the fifth – which may have been the straw that broke St. John Paul II’s proverbial back – started a two-run rally that ultimately would prove to be what turned the tide for the Whalers.
Brooke Holdgate and Kaley Chitester (4-4) each added clutch hits to the Nantucket fifth inning rally.
The Lions clinched a postseason berth on Wednesday.
Four St. John Paul II errors may have spelled the difference in this well-pitched, hard-fought affair, but a lack of their usual offensive firepower also may have been a reason for a lack of runs being plated by the hosts as well as seven stranded baserunners.
Nantucket’s Brooke Holdgate went 4-4 in the Whalers’ 10-5 upset over the Lady Lions in Hyannis Thursday afternoon.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos
Lady Lions’ second baseman Kali Tanguay led the Blue & Gold with a 2-3 day at the plate.
Nantucket is now 7-4 on the season and next welcomes Georgetown on Saturday (May 9).
Notre Dame Academy — 12
Barnstable — 0
Just a couple of days after blanking rival Falmouth to the tune of a 12-0 rout, the Barnstable High girls’ softball team took a 12-0 blanking of their own at the hands of the Notre Dame Academy girls Thursday afternoon.
Notre Dame plated one run in the first inning and that was all it would end up needing to secure the victory as the Barnstable bats were uncharacteristically held silent on the road in Hingham.
Notre Dame junior pitcher tossed a complete-game two-hitter against the Red Raiders, striking out six batters and walking none.
Barnstable’s Cassidy Lariviere had both of Barnstable’s hits as the talented third baseman went 2-2.
Barnstable held Notre Dame to just a 4-0 lead through the fifth when the hosts plated one more run and then tacked on another seven in the sixth inning.
The Red Raiders are now 4-8 on the season and welcome Needham on Saturday (May 9) at 1:00 pm in Hyannis.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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