St. John Paul II Softballers Win Second Straight, Barnstable Volleyball Falls

HYANNIS – Thanks to home runs from senior co-captains Jackie Smith and Hadley Tate, the St. John Paul II Lions softball team (2-0) got on top of the visiting Nauset Warriors (0-2) and stayed that way, en route to a 9-4 win Monday afternoon.

It also helped that Smith, the Lions’ ace on the mound, struck out 12 batters over seven innings of work for her second straight win of the season. The Lions are now 2-0 on the season.

Barnstable High senior co-captain Harrison West-Mather sets up Donnie Mach for the kill, but North Quincy prevailed Monday, 3-1. Phil Garceau Photo for Capecod.com Sports

Barnstable High senior co-captain Harrison West-Mather sets up Donnie Mach for the kill, but North Quincy prevailed Monday, 3-1.
Phil Garceau Photo for Capecod.com Sports

Smith belted a two-run gap shot in the bottom of the first inning, followed by a Tate solo blast that made it 3-0 for the hosts and the second frame the Lions got the rest they would need, ultimately, to win. St. John Paul II put a pair of runners on base on dropped third strikes, followed by a bases-loading hit batsman, then plated a pair of runs to make it 5-0 on infield ground outs.

The Lions tacked on two more in the fourth and another pair in the sixth, but in the top of the seventh the Warriors made a valiant comeback attempt. Nauset’s Amanda Curran – who had three hits on the day for the visiting Warriors – belted a solo home run in her team’s final at-bat, but it was not enough to whittle down the Lions’ five-run lead. Teammate Sabrina Santos also had two hits and two RBI for the Warriors.

Nicole Keagul took the hard-luck loss for the visitors.

Smith went 4-4 with two RBI on the day, belting a triple, home run and two singles, just missing the cycle. Kristen Hayes also picked up a key hit for the Lions.

“It’s still early in the season,” St. John Paul II head coach Mike Manley said. “We’re working very hard to get better.”

St. John Paul II is back in action again today at home versus Sturgis East at 4:00 pm, depending on the weather.

Barnstable Volleyball Team Drops Tough Match-up with Rival North Quincy

The Barnstable High boys’ volleyball team (2-2) came into this heated affair already charged up, according to first-year head coach Marylou Martin, but the fire was not enough as the guests took home the win, 3-1.

North Quincy took the first and second sets by the same score – 25-22 – Barnstable returned the favor in the third set with a gutsy win, 25-23, but North Quincy prevailed in the final frame, 25-21, for the 3-1 victory.

“It was a good match,” Coach Martin said. “We’d rally, back-and-forth, back-and-forth, and our boys came out with real energy, but North Quincy wanted it more.”

Senior co-captain Donnie Mach led what Martin deemed a “highly defensive” match, with 15 digs on top of 17 kills and three aces, followed by fellow co-captain Scott Sawyer who had 15 kills and 11 digs and Sanjeev K.C. with 13 digs. Scott McNair added nine digs and Harrison West-Mather poured out 34 assists. He also added six digs.

“What killed us was our serving,” Martin said. “On defense we struggled a little bit, too.”

Barnstable next faces Durfee at home on Friday (April 10) at 5:30 pm.

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

 

About CapeCod.com NewsCenter

The award-winning CapeCod.com NewsCenter provides the Cape Cod community with a constant, credible source for local news. We are on the job seven days a week.



CapeCod.com
737 West Main Street
Hyannis, MA 02601
Contact Us | Advertise Terms of Use 
Employment and EEO | Privacy