RallyNorth.net

Sat, Jun 11, 2016 04:00 PM @ Central Catholic

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final
Lexington	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	5
Central Catholic	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	3

Central's bats go cold, fall in semis to Lexington

Saturday, June, 11 By Kyle Gaudette

LOWELL — Madison Borrelli immediately jumped up after sliding into third in the bottom of the seventh, clapping ferociously and screaming at her teammates "Lets go!" The magic number in her head was two, as the hit was her second triple of the game, but more importantly two was the deficit Central Catholic faced in its final at-bat.

Unfortunately, Borrelli's plea could not wake up a Central offense that mustered only five hits, as an ensuing pop up and ground out sealed the No. 1 Raiders 5-3 loss to No. 5 Lexington in the Division 1 North semi-finals.

It is the third consecutive year Central has lost in the North semis, and the seventh time in the past decade.

"I think they played better," said Central coach Stacy Ciccolo. "I don't think we played as well as we needed to on this stage. I think Lexington was better in several facets of the game. I thought they hit and pitched a little bit better, and we were always chasing them. I thought we put up a good fight, but it's dissapointing. We're better than we played today."

Central never lead in this one. Starter Niamh Walker went the distance for the Raiders, but surprisingly did not record a strikeout as the Minutemen pounded out 14 hits. 

Lexington plated one in the first off a Caitlyn Burke double. They would have scored more, but a nice relay gunned Burke down at the plate. The Minutemen went double, triple to start off the second, but two ground outs and a pop out ended the threat. 

Central fought back down 3-1 in the fifth inning. Leadoff hitter Hailey Cockroft (2 for 4, RBI) singled to right and was tripled home by Borrelli. After a weak fly out to center, Bella Jankowski flew out to shallow right, but a throwing miscue allowed Cockroft to score and tie the game.

Walker got the first two batters out in the sixth, but a sinlge and three straight doubles plated two more runs for Lexington. The lead could have been even higher for the Minutemen, but Sienna Filippi (3 for 4, two RBI's) did not hit first base on her double and was tagged out.

Lexington made a couple errors that allowed second opportunites for Central, but the Raiders were always stymied by senior ace Maggie Oram. She only struck-out three, but got key pop outs when she needed them to earn her 18th win of the season.

"Whenever we needed a big pitch or a big out she (Oram) came through," said Lexington coach Mike Ng. "We gave so many chances, but she beared down and just came through. She spun the ball well today, and she is just naturally competitive. She's one of the better pitchers in the state."

Borrelli had two of Central's five hits in her final game as a Raider. She will continue to play Division 2 softball at St. Anslem in the Northeast-10 conferene next spring. 

"I can't say enough about her," said Ciccolo. "She is a leader and she plays every game with so much heart. I just told my team that she hit those triples off of heart alone in situations when we needed someone to step up. Big players play big in big situations, and Madison played big today."

Central finishes the season 20-3, as the loss Saturday ended the team's 11-game winning streak. Lexington will play Newton North in the North finals today at 5 p.m. at Martin Field in Lowell. Newton North rallied from 5-0 down in the second inning to defeat Concord Carlisle 7-6 Saturday.

"It's been a good year and I think we had some kids who did some really good things," said Ciccolo. "We won 20 games by having multiple people contribute. But it didn't happen today. We needed more contributions from more people."

 

 

Semi Struggles

Central Catholic has delivered two North championships over the past decade, but whether its been at Division 1 or 2, the Raiders have struggled in the sectional semi-finals. 

In fact, Central has now lost in the North semi-finals 7 out of the last 10 years including Saturday's loss.

*Note: Central moved to Division 1 softball in 2010

Year       Team                Score

2016      Lexington             5-3

2015      Medford               3-0

2014      Revere                 1-0

2012      Malden                 4-0

2010      Lexington              5-0

2009      Concord-Carlisle     9-2

2007      North Andover       3-0