The Gloucester softball team was locked in at the plate in Monday’s non-league game against Lowell Catholic. The Fishermen hit the ball hard early and often with hits coming up and down the lineup in a 12-1 drubbing at Gloucester High School.
With the win, its fifth in the last six games, Gloucester continues to climb above the .500 mark at 7-5 on the season.
Monday’s win saw the Fishermen break out the bats right away with four runs in the bottom of the first inning and they never looked back.
The onslaught started with a little small ball as Ava Paone led off the bottom of the first with a bunt single, stole second and third before coming home on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt from Chloe deGaspe Beaubien to make it 1-0 just two batters in. RBI hits Ashlee Aiello, Cam Carroll and Emma Carrapichosa followed to give Gloucester a 4-0 lead after just one inning.
“The message at practice lately has been to jump out and score some runs early, and lately that’s what we’ve been doing,” Gloucester head coach Bryan Aiello said. “We started it off with some small ball and that put some good swings together.”
From there the Fishermen went on to grab another run in the second, four more in the fourth and three more in the fifth to run away with the victory. Offensively it was a total team effort as eight players had multi-hit games and five players drove in multiple runs.
Carroll led the offensive attack belting out four hits while driving in a pair and scoring three times while Carrapichosa had three hits and drove in a pair. Ashlee Aiello and deGaspe Beaubien had two his, two runs and two RBIs while Lily Aiello had two hits and knocked in a pair. Paone had two hits and scored twice, Jenna Connelly had two hits and a RBI and Julia Carrancho had a pair of hits.
“The bats really came alive and right away you could tell everyone had their swings down,” Aiello said. “And it was the entire lineup. Everyone contributed today.”
The offense may have led the way, but Gloucester put together a complete effort in every facet of the game. Ashlee Aiello struck out 11, allowing only two hits in a complete game effort. Defensively, the Fishermen played error free. The best defensive play of the day came in the top of the third when Carrancho made a running catch on a looper in short center field. Carrapichosa also had a strong game defensively at third base.
“I was really happy with the pitching and defense today too,” Aiello said. “We made the routine plays we needed to make and 11 strikeouts always helps limit baserunners from moving into scoring position. It was a good, all around team effort.”
Gloucester and Lowell Catholic will be meeting again on Thursday, this time at Lowell Catholic (4:30 p.m.). Gloucester is looking to keep it rolling as the team is currently playing some of its best softball of the year as the season enters the stretch run.
“We’re playing well right now,” Aiello said. “The pitching has been there all year and the defense and the offense have really come around.”