St. John Paul II’s Kasey Smith slides in safely on her 7th inning solo home run as catcher Mollie Mayer leaps for the throw.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
HYANNIS – During the St. John Paul II girls’ basketball season this past winter, Greater New Bedford Voke proved impossible to defeat and ousted the Lady Lions from the postseason.
Saturday afternoon in Hyannis, the 20th-seeded Voke girls — boasting just an 8-12 record – spoiled the 4th-seeded Lady Lions’ postseason hopes once again but this time the defeat came on the softball diamond to the tune of a 13-3 rout.
“It was just one of those days,” head coach Mike Manley said. “I just feel sad for the seniors.”
Greater New Bedford Voke jumped all over the host Lions from the outset in this opening round match-up in the MIAA Division 3 South Sectionals and inning by inning continued to build upon its lead.
In the top of the first inning, Voke sophomore Makenzie Souza hammered a grand slam over Pine Avenue and into a neighboring yard and, incredibly, that would prove all the runs the visiting Bears would need to win.
Junior Marissa Pires went 4-4 to lead all hitters on the day, while Voke teammates Rileigh Avila (3-5), Krystin Sylvia (2-5) and Averi Soares (2-4) all had multiple hits in the Bears’ 17-hit onslaught.
St. John Paul II senior catcher and co-captain Hadley Tate went 3-4 and Madi Doyle and Kristen Hayes both added a pair of hits, but it was until the bottom of the seventh inning that the Lady Lions finally got on the scoreboard.
St. John Paul II senior co-captain Hadley Tate slides into second base safely on her third inning double.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
It took a Kasey Smith solo home run blast to deep centerfield to finally get the Lions going and spoil the Voke shutout. Smith’s homer made it 13-1, Voke, and her blast was followed by a single from her older sister Jackie Smith, a single from Tate, a basehit from Sam Carlowicz and then what little fuel the Lions had left in
the tank ran empty.
“It was a great season,” Coach Manley said.
St. John Paul II finished at 14-5 and captured the program’s first-ever Cape & Islands League softball championship title. Tate will head to Providence College next fall where she will continue to play softball for the NCAA DI Friars, while teammate and fellow senior co-captain Jackie Smith will continue her softball career at Western Connecticut State University next fall.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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