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Holy Trinity softball escapes with win
East Norwich, NY – It was smooth sailing for the Holy Trinity Lady Titans. That was until the pesky St. Dominic Lady Bayhawks battled their way back in it.
Holy Trinity, who had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, extended that lead to 5-0 after the third. However, St. Dominic scored one in the third, two in the fifth, one in the sixth, and had the tying run on second base before Holy Trinity shut the door on their 5-4 CHSAA victory at Charles Wang Athletic Center.
Senior designated player Grace Suhovsky went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a stolen base in the win. Kate Hogan finished the day going 1-for-3 with a two-run double and fellow junior Alyssa Bavaro pitched five inning to earn the win.
“I felt very comfortable in the batter’s box,” Suhovsky said. “We faced her [St. Dominic starting pitcher Amanda Finn] the prior two games we played before. I was confident. I knew she was a good pitcher, but I was confident in myself.”
The Lady Titans established the five run lead with three runs in the first.
Hogan won the battle with Finn in an 11-pitch at-bat to blast a two run double down the left field line. Suhovsky followed with a squibbled ball merely 10 feet down the first baseline that stopped just short of Finn and first baseman Alexa Serrano that allowed Bernadette Mullone to score on the RBI single.
“I was really looking for a strike,” says Hogan on her long at-bat versus Finn. “I was looking for my pitch. I knew the bases were loaded, I needed to get a hit, and I just wanted to drive one fair.”
In the third, with two runners on and two outs, Suhovsky ripped a single to leftfield that plated Alicia Parenty and Mullone to make it 5-0.
However, St. Dominic would start to chip away at Trinity’s lead.
In the bottom half of the third, Maria Batas delivered an RBI single to get the Lady Bayhawks on the board. Then in the fifth, back-to-back extra base hits by Batas and Finn each brought in runs to cut the deficit to just 5-3.
The sixth inning was where St. Dominic would have their opportunity.
Alexa Serrano walked, which induced Holy Trinity Head Coach Michelle Martini-Tripi to replace Bavaro in favor of the fresh Amanda LaRocca. The senior came in and immediately struck out Danielle Fogarty, but a single by Toni-Ann Pasqueralle setup Sabrina Gordek’s RBI infield single to make it a one-run game at 5-4.
In what would turn out to be the most important play of the game, Pasqueralle represented the tying run at third and one out. Kaitlin Mars laid down a bunt, but first baseman Jordan Catalano delivered the ball to Hogan at the plate just before the runner could get her hand in.
“I knew she was coming in, I saw her going for the hook slide at home plate, and I just dropped my leg in front of home plate so that she couldn’t get in and I went right to her body with my glove, and I tagged her,” Hogan recalled.
Following that play, LaRocca would strike out Kristin Barbari to preserve the lead and would survive the seventh inning for the 5-4 victory.
“They never gave up throughout the entire game,” said Suhovsky. “It’s always an interesting game, you never know how it’s going to go with them. You play your heart out, and you see where it goes.”
Holy Trinity improved to 9-11 in the CHSAA and St. Dominic fell to 9-10. Batas led the Lady Bayhawks, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.
Follow Bill on Twitter @MSGVBillMueller | Email him at wmueller@cablevision.com
