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Friday, 30 May 2008 |
PAWTUCKET – Tolman High swatted Central High out of the Division III playoffs on Thursday with a flick of its wrist, then listened to a lecture about what it will take to beat Scituate High in the best-of-three state final series that begins this evening at Rhode Island College.
The Tigers improved to 19-0 on the season with a 21-3 romp over Central that coach Craig Giarrusso deemed “sloppy” in several aspects of the game.
“Not one of our better outings,” Giarrusso said after his Tigers rallied from a surprising 1-0 deficit heading into the bottom of the third inning. A 15-run scoring onslaught in that frame put the game away, although the Tigers added six more tallies in the fourth before the “mercy rule” took hold after 4 ½ innings.
“We got a little sloppy in the top of the fifth,” Giarrusso said about an inning where the Dragons scored twice. “We made a couple errors and walked a couple of batters. Macayla (Kirylo) walked eight batters in the game. We can’t do that against Scituate.”
Scituate, which polished off Davies Tech in Thursday’s other semifinal by an 8-6 score, brings a 17-2 record into today’s finals. The Spartans have lost only to Tolman this year, by scores of 10-0 and 5-0.
“We happened to play our two best games of the year against them,” Giarrusso said. “I would say Scituate is as good a team as we are. They made some mistakes against us. I told our girls we have to come out and score runs in every inning. We can’t put people on base. We have to step up our level of play against Scituate.”
The Tigers awakened with a vengeance in the bottom of the third inning against Central, putting their first 13 batters on base. Losing pitcher Ashley Torres walked a few batters and didn’t get much help from her defense when the ball was put in play. With the wind blowing straight in from Newport Avenue, every popup was an adventure. If Tolman made contact and put the ball in play, Central seemingly could not make a play to get an out.
Kirylo started the inning with a single. Kayla Therriault got hit by a pitch and then Shannon Deighan walked. Erin Girouard’s two-run single put the Tigers ahead for good. With slugger Brenda Parker at the plate and the bases loaded, Torres wild-pitched home two runs. Parker singled to make it 5-1 and the rout was on.
Tolman scored six runs in the inning on wild pitches.
Parker finished with a single, double and triple while scoring three runs. She belted a bases-loaded triple over the left fielder’s head in the fourth inning to give Tolman an 18-1 lead.
Emily Sharkey, Therriault and Deighan also tallied three times for the Tigers.
Tonight’s game against Scituate begins at 6 p.m.
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Central 010 02 – 3
Tolman 00(15) 6x – 21
Central battery: Ashley Torres, Leslie Peralta (4) and Ashley Winfield. Tolman battery: Macayla Kirylo and Brenda Parker. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 07 June 2008 )
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