Valley Breeze

pawtucket edition | valley breeze | June 17-23, 2015 SPORTS & RECREATION 9 By KAYLA PANU valley breeze Sports writer kayla@valleybreeze.com PAWTUCKET – The Tolman High softball team fell behind early against East Providence High in their Division I los- ers' bracket game on June 9 at Slater Park and could never quite catch up to the Townies, as the Tigers suffered a 5-3 loss that eliminated them from tour- nament play. "It's a tough loss," Tolman head coach Craig Giarrusso said. "Overall, I think we had a great season. It's going to be tough to replace the three seniors (leaving). But we have a lot of young talent coming back and we'll have something to build on." The Townies, who ended up dropping their next playoff game to Coventry, jumped on the board right out of the gate. In the top of the first inning off pitcher Megan Salzillo, Ava Atwell belted a triple to left field to drive in the first run, and she scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Kristin Lyons. After a quick second inning, more trouble came in the third for Salzillo and her team. Brianna Allienello led off with a walk, and after she was sac- rificed over to second, Atwell drove in Allienello with a base hit to left. Salzillo induced a flyout to right for the second out, but hit Corrie Traverse with a pitch, and Traverse was removed from the game and later left the bench. Hannah Caliri then replaced Salzillo in the circle and struck out the first batter she faced to end the inning. "Hannah and Megan all year have complimented one anoth- er," Giarrusso said. "They have been playing together for seven or eight years. They are a great duo to have. I feel very blessed to have two sophomore pitch- ers to move forward with." The Tigers finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning with two runs off East Providence pitcher Haley Rodriques. Hope Caliri blasted a triple to right, and after the next two outs came on pop- outs, senior second baseman Leiandra Wilson hit a line dou- ble to left to score Caliri. Senior first baseman Cristin Chiaverini then knocked in Wilson with her hit to no-man's-land between the second baseman and right fielder. Chiaverini stole sec- ond and senior catcher Megan Klemanchuck walked, but the inning ended on a flyout to left. The score remained a one-run game until the sixth, as Amber Drainville and Alyssa Guarino belted run-scoring singles, but the Tigers put themselves in a good position to retaliate in the bottom of the sixth. Klemanchuck was hit by a pitch to start the inning and Kaitlyn Clement had a bloop hit that just dropped into fair territory in left to get Klemanchuck over to third and put runners on the corners. Hannah Caliri did her part with a base hit to right to score Klemanchuck, but the offense fell silent, and Rodriques was able to retire the next three bat- ters on a flyout to right, a tap- per back to the mound, and a popout to second. The top four batters in the Tigers' lineup, Aly Larson, Wilson, Chiaverini and Klemanchuck, each reached base two times. Wilson was the only player with two hits. "It's not the way we wanted to end the season," said Giarrusso, whose team ended their regular season with a 14-4 record that gave them the Division I-North title. "But overall we had a good season, and we will build on that." valley breeze photo by kayla panu Tolman shortstop EmiLY TrUEsdALE, top, gets ready to field a throw and tag out East Providence runner JordAN FArNsworTh, who tried to steal second base in the top of the 2nd inning of last week's Division I losers' bracket game at Slater Park. The Townies posted a 5-3 victory. Townies bounce Tigers from D-I softball playoffs E.P. delivers 5-3 win over Tolman

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