By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

WOONSOCKET --- The future may be a year or two away for Woonsocket High and St. Raphael Academy, but on Wednesday afternoon, both ballclubs cared about the present and looked to grab a rare Division I victory.
And that win went to the Villa Novans, who broke out to a 6-0 lead after two innings, but had to hold off the Saints the rest of the way before exiting Cold Spring Park’s Baldelli Field with a 9-5 triumph.
The victory was only the third in 12 games for the Novans, who are fielding their youngest team in a number of seasons. Only one senior (third baseman and team captain Tiara Bottachiari) graces their roster, and three sophomores and three freshmen are featured in their lineup.
“We’ve worked hard and we’ve gotten better, but it doesn’t always show in the standings,” remarked Woonsocket coach Dan Belisle. “Everyone’s a lot more experienced than us. We have just four returning players and the rest are true rookies that barely even played JVs, but they’ve come a long way in a couple of months.”
The Saints, meanwhile, remain winless in 12 games in a difficult rebuilding season that has seen them lose nine of their games by the mercy-rule and get outscored in their defeats by a 126-16 margin.
Only 11 players make up the team, and two (University of Delaware-bound third baseman and team captain Emily Wilcox and three-sport star Christina Hopper) were full-time starters last season. 
“They’ve been coming around from Day 1 to today,” added SRA first-year coach Joe Wilson. “It seems like every time they step on the field, they’re improving. We don’t have a lot to work with, but the girls I have are there every day and they want to learn, and that’s all you can ask for.
“This team has been on top for several years, but now it’s time to rebuild, and while we regroup, we’ll keep going at it. All we can do is go out there, try our best, and keep smiling, because this game’s about having fun.”
This game wasn’t your typical Division I classic – both teams combined for 19 walks, nine wild pitches, and six errors – but it turned into a competitive battle after the Saints cut their deficit to 7-4 after 3½ innings of play and had their share of chances to make it a closer game.
Freshman pitcher Michaela Ward picked up her first career victory by taking the mound in the second inning and tossing 5 1/3 innings of four-hit ball.
Ward did struggle with her control and walk nine batters, and when she tired in the seventh inning, Belisle brought in his starting pitcher, Nicole Boucher, who switched positions with Ward and helped the Novans escape a first-and-second, one-out jam by retiring the next two batters she faced.      
“Nicole was having a little shoulder soreness in the first inning and Michaela hadn’t gotten any work this year because we had a few JV games rained out, so it worked out well,” offered Belisle. “Michaela threw strikes and she was able to last five innings, so I was very happy.”
The Novans, who collected just five hits in the contest, had only one in the first inning, but took advantage of three walks, a hit batsman, and three wild pitches by SRA starting pitcher Alexandra Perry and that helped them come away with a 3-0 command.
Bottachiari, who reached base in all four of her plate appearances and scored three times, dashed home with the first run when she scored on a wild pitch, and Michelena Cole added the Novans’ hit -- a two-out, two-run line single down the left-field line that scored Nicole Boucher and Kelsey Boucher.
In the second, the Villa Novans doubled their lead by again only producing one hit, but scoring their runs on a pair of infield errors and wild pitches that brought home Bottachiari and Kelsey Boucher.
But the Saints responded with three runs of their own in the third, as walks to the first three batters (Lauren Peloquin, Perry, and Wilcox) and an infield single by Alexis Signore kicked off their rally.
Peloquin raced home with SRA’s first run on the front end of a double steal with Perry, and after a fielder’s choice grounder by Hopper drove in Perry, a groundout by Marjorie Zahn plated Wilcox.
Just when things were looking great for the Saints, they were dealt a serious blow in the bottom of the third, when with two gone, Signore, their catcher, injured her knee chasing down a pop foul by Bottachiari and was forced to leave the game.
That forced Wilson to shuffle his defense, and among his many moves was putting Wilcox on the mound and Peloquin, his shortstop, behind the plate. Wilcox promptly set down seven of the next nine batters she faced until the Novans scored their final two runs in the sixth.
Before that inning, both teams had traded runs by scoring on infield errors, but in the sixth, the Villa Novans tried to pull away with the help of three of their hits. Nicole Boucher knocked in one of the runs with a bloop single to shallow center and later scored on a passed ball.
The Novans threatened to score more, but the Saints escaped further damage with a rare 1-3-2 double play that was started when Wilcox jumped off the mound to make a nice backhanded stab on a grounder to her right.
In the seventh, the Saints got back a run when Peloquin scored on a squeeze bunt by Perry. They eventually had the tying run in the on-deck circle with one gone before Nicole Boucher returned to the mound and extinguished the threat.
While Belisle was happy with the win, he was very pleased with his team’s defense, which had been averaging 3½ errors a game, but made just two and only one resulted in an unearned run. Kelsey Boucher, the Novans’ freshman catcher, also threw out three runners trying to steal second.
“We did a great job in the field,” admitted Belisle. “In our three wins, we’ve made two or less (errors).”
**
St. Raphael  003 100 1—5-4-4 
Woonsocket  331 002 x—9-5-2
Alexandra Perry, Emily Wilcox (3) and Alexis Signore, Danielle Peloquin (3); Nicole Boucher, Michaela Ward (2), Nicole Boucher (7) and Kelsey Boucher.