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Forzese, Central get the message

Wednesday, April, 21 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

LAWRENCE —  Other than reflecting back on a disappointing sophomore campaign, Central Catholic junior third baseman Karissa Forzese didn’t need any extra impetus to improve at the plate this spring.

“I think I hit .118 last year and I was very upset about it,” said Forzese. “I really wanted to come back this year and improve, and show what I could do.”

That was welcome news to Central coach Stacy Ciccolo, who felt that a number of her returning starters needed to improve at the plate.

“Hitting is kind of a focus for us this year,” said Ciccolo, whose club moved to 3-1. “We’ve broken everything down and really worked at it. Karissa is very coachable and, so far, she’s definitely improved the most.”

Indeed, after going 3 for 3 yesterday, with an RBI and two runs scored in a 9-1 whipping of Methuen, Forzese is hitting a robust team-leading .619 and leads the team in RBIs with six.

“I have a lot more confidence this year and I’m more relaxed up there,” said Forzese. “I think we have a lot of good hitters. I came into the year thinking we could do some damage.”

Although helped a bit by a shaky start (three walks, two hit batsmen) by Methuen pitcher Molly Mulligan and a couple of mental errors, the Raiders showed that yesterday.

Last year’s top returnee, junior leadoff hitter Brianna Martin (.476 as a sophomore), is off to another terrific start and was on base four times yesterday with two hits and two RBIs, Kayla Maloney had a solo home run and scored twice and junior Corrine Gosselin was 2 for 4 with an RBI.

“We’re still looking for a consistent batting order, but we’re showing some good signs,” said Ciccolo. “I feel we have the pitching and the defense, so it’s up to the hitting.”

Junior Meg Donegon was on the mound for the Raiders yesterday and was sharp for the second straight day, allowing just four hits while striking out nine without walking a batter.

For Methuen (2-3), Courtney Bradley led off the fourth with a sharp single to right field that was misplayed. She later scored on a sacrifice fly by Rebecca Armstrong (1 for 2), but there were few other highlights for the Rangers.

“We just didn’t show up to play,” said disappointed Methuen coach Jason Smith. “We played terrible ... it was definitely our worst game.”