It wasn’t exactly the sight St. Joseph by the Sea is used to.
The Vikings are usually the team gobbling up softballs and their opponent providing chances for runs with miscues in the field. But against Moore it was Sea that had a few costly mistakes and watched its rivals pick up the big hits late.
“We are not used to hit after hit against us,” said third baseman Jackie Kelly, who had a ball hop between her legs in the fourth. “Mistakes are going to happened, but they don’t usually happen to us. Today they did.”
The Mavericks picked up four straight two-out hits and collected two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. A base running error erased a chance to tie the score in the seventh and left Sea to swallow a tough 4-3 loss to the host Mavericks in CHSAA Staten Island softball Monday. It is the Vikings first league loss since Moore beat them in April 2009.
“They were the better team today,” Sea coach Mike Ponsiglione said he told his team after the game. “Remember the feeling and let’s not have to feel like that again.”
His squad almost avoided that. After Moore (9-2), ranked No. 6 in the city by The Post, grabbed the 4-3 lead, Kelly, who had three hits and an RBI, smashed a double to right center field game to lead off the seventh. Jackie Cautela grounded a ball to second, but pinch runner Jessica Plutchok broke back to second base before heading to third and was thrown out for a double play. Sea, which got two hits and a run scored from Kristina Mazzarisi, stranded runners on second with less than two outs in the third and fourth as well.
“Usually it’s easy for us,” center fielder Maria Scopellito said of getting the game-breaking hit. “Today the whole team pretty much had an off day.”
Moore, which lost the first meeting 11-0 in April, grabbed a 2-1 lead when Sea catcher Michelle Abolt’s throw was wide of first allowing Taylor Baggs to score from third in the fourth. It was an aggressive play Ponsiglione said he wants her to make as it could have doubled off Nicole DeMartino after Jackie Heinz popped up a bunt. Cautela’s sac fly in the fifth tied the score at 2 and Sea (8-1) took the lead when Scopellito singled up the middle.
Viking started Alexa Tedeschi was an out away from completing a routine sixth when Taylor Krupa hit a double off the base of the wall in left center. Jen Coughlan followed with an RBI triple that Lianna Jordan misjudged in right. Jackie Heinz brought home the winning run with a soft single to left. Ponsiglione said he warned his players that Moore, which did not make an error, would play like a desperate team after a loss to St. John Villa last week.
“They came out after they lost to Villa and they took it out on us,” Kelly said.
There certainly will be no panic in Huguenot. Sea still controls its own division title destiny and Moore comes to visit on May 14. Ponsiglione said they could possibly lose again then, but it might not mean anything in the long run. It’s all part of the process of getting ready for the ultimate goal of defending their CHSAA state title in the playoffs.
“We didn’t come out fired up and they wanted it more than us today,” Scopellito said. “Next time we just have to come out on top.”
