RallyNorth.net

LAWRENCE — The Central Catholic softball team wasn’t going to let the rain get to them.

The Raiders began their preliminary round of the state tournament with Lynn Classical on Friday afternoon, but finished Sunday afternoon. The long layoff didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the Raiders as they scored six runs on Sunday to win 7-1 and march on in the tournament.

Umpires called the game on Friday with one out in the bottom of the third inning after the sky opened up. Lynn Classical had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after pitcher Olivia Antczak surrendered a solo homerun. That homerun would be the only hit she allowed all weekend.

Central Catholic remained scoreless with one out gone in the bottom of the third inning until Olivia Ciccarelli blasted a solo homerun to centerfield to tie the game. The game was canceled a few minutes later, but not before Krista Maloney got on base with a double. “When we ended on Friday we had strung a couple hits together and I felt like we had good momentum,” said Raiders head coach Stacy Ciccolo, “It was disappointing to walk off the field at that point.”

For Ciccarelli, who is a senior, the homerun was a personal milestone as well as a momentum changer.” “It was perfect timing. I’ve never hit a homerun,” said Ciccarelli, who was batting ninth. “We had so much momentum Friday night, and we knew we had to bring it back.”

Bring it back they did.

On Sunday, the Raiders picked up right where they had left off on Friday. Central scored two more runs in the bottom of the third, and then four runs in the fourth highlighted by an RBI single from Ciccarelli and a three-run homerun from senior Krista Maloney out of the leadoff spot. “We had to attack right away,” said Maloney. “We couldn’t wait to get into game momentum because we had so few innings.”

Central Catholic coasted from there as pitcher Olivia Antczak kept Lynn Classical to one hit over six innings of work. She allowed no hits on Sunday. “I had to mentally prepare to start in the top of the fourth,” she said. “It was kind of weird, honestly. But it gave me more time to mentally prepare. It was kind of nice in a way.” Antczak struck out six and walked four in six innings of work.

Central Catholic will travel to Newton South on Tuesday to play in the next round of the North Division 1 Tournament.