RallyNorth.net

Central batters break out, rip Lowell

Saturday, June, 05 By By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — A little extra batting practice in the last month has paid off nicely for Central Catholic junior Corrine Gosselin.

And an extra dose of hitting Friday did wonders for the entire Central Catholic team, which blasted Lowell 17-1 yesterday in a Division 1 North first-round game.

“This was nice to see,” said Central coach Stacy Ciccolo. “We haven’t been that consistent hitting the ball, and we only beat them (Lowell) 2-0 last Sunday, so I didn’t know what to expect.”

But the No. 1-seed Raiders (21-1) took some extra hitting Friday against their own pitchers, Meg Donegan and Kayla Maloney, and that must have provided some confidence.

“We hit a lot against Kayla and there’s no one better than our pitchers,” said Central junior Brianna Martin. “I think we proved ourself today.”

Martin led a 17-hit attack, that was spread over eight different players, with two triples and a walk-off two-run homer over the left-field fence that ended the game in the sixth because of the 15-run mercy rule. She finished the game with six RBIs.

But it was Gosselin, another junior and the cleanup hitter, who got things rolling.

After a scoreless first inning, she doubled to left-center and scored the game’s first run and the first of five in the inning. She then led off the fourth with a shot to right-center that cleared the fence but was ruled a ground-rule double.

“That clearly should have been a homer,” said Ciccolo. “It didn’t make any difference in the game, but when a kid hits a homer, she should get credit for it.”

Gosselin (3 for 3) also walked and hit a screaming line drive off the third baseman for another hit. Much like older sister Monique, who enjoyed a fine season at Merrimack College, she has come on strong the second half of the season.

“I had been popping the ball up a lot (earlier in the season),” said Gosselin. “I’ve done a lot of extra hitting with my dad and Dave Bettencourt so I’m hitting more on top of the ball. My sister has helped me a lot, too.”
Joining Martin and Gosselin with three hits were Kelly Michal and Alex Borrelli. Michal had a pair of RBIs and Borrelli, from the ninth spot in the order, scored three runs.

Meg Donegan started for the Raiders and pitched four brilliant innings of one-hit shutout ball, striking out seven, and Kayla Maloney went the last two innings, giving up one run.

Central has another home game at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, facing No. 8 Malden (15-6)  in the quarterfinals.