St. John Paul II Lions Softball Stung by Bishop Stang

NORTH DARTMOUTH – Having already clinched a postseason berth and share of the Cape & Islands League title, the tough-to-beat St. John Paul II softball team (13-4) dropped a rare doubleheader Saturday afternoon to Bishop Stang on the road.

St. John Paul II’s Madi Doyle and the Lady Lions were swept Saturday afternoon by Eastern Athletic Conference champion Bishop Stang.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports

The Spartans (16-2) defeated the Lady Lions 16-1 in the first game of the doubleheader and followed that win with a 14-2 victory.

St. John Paul II plated their lone in run in the first game in the first inning after shortstop Kasey Smith led off with a double and came home on a Hadley Tate RBI-single, but that was all the guests could muster as Stang answered with nine runs in the first frame and never looked back

Stang hammered out 15 hits in the opener and scored in each inning. St. John Paul II had three hits off of Spartan pitcher Mia Bruno and just one baserunner after the first frame.

Stang first baseman Maranda Ferreira went 4-4 and scored one run in the effort, Ali Thomas went 2-3 and Lindsay Florent and Addison Landry both went 3-4.

In the second game – a 14-2 loss also shortened to five innings of play due to the 12-run mercy rule – Stang’s Ali Thomas went the distance and struck out four batters, while allowing two runs on six hits.

The Lady Lions’ Hadley Tate led off the fourth with a triple and scored on Sam Carlowicz basehit and it was Carlowica again in the fifth who knocked in Kasey Smith for the guests’ second run.

Stang plated three runs in the first and that was all the run support the home team needed. Still, Stang went on to score three more in the second, three in the fourth and five in the fifth for 30 runs in all on the day.

Already crowned the Eastern Athletic Conference champions, Stang’s Florent hammered out another three hits (3-4) from the leadoff spot, while teammates Mackenzie Shurtleff, Lauren Jackson and Nicole Vachon also went 3-4 in the 19-hit barrage. All totaled, Stang cranked out 34 hits and 30 runs in the twinbill rout.

St. John Paul II wraps up its regular season next Wednesday (May 27) on the road at Cape Cod Tech. A win against Tech could secure the outright league title for the Lady Lions.

— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm