For the second time this season, Gloucester freshman ace Abby Noble has tossed a no-hitter.
More impressively, she’s now accomplished the rare feat on the brightest of stages.
With her team taking on Bishop Fenwick in a Division 3 Sweet 16 clash at home on Tuesday afternoon, Noble confidently strutted her stuff to power the Fishermen to an authoritative 9-0 victory.
The first-year standout pitcher struck out 11 batters and walked just three on 107 total pitches, dominating from start to finish to help Gloucester advance to the state quarterfinals. The eighth-seeded Fishermen will now await the winner of top-seeded Dighton-Rehoboth and No. 16 Medway, with those teams facing off on Thursday afternoon.
“Abby was great pitching that no hitter and just dominating throughout the entire game,” said GHS manager Bryan Aiello, his team now 18-4 on the year. “We played a solid all around game. Our plan was to be aggressive and we did that right from the start of the game.”
Noble — who has enjoyed a phenomenal debut varsity campaign in the circle en route to NEC All-Conference honors — had previously no-hit Marblehead in a nine inning Fishermen triumph just over a week ago. She also had a solid performance in this past Sunday’s playoff opening, 5-3 win over Medfield, and certainly carried that momentum into Tuesday’s gem.
On the other side, Gloucester’s bats more than backed her up.
The Fishermen wasted no time getting started, pushing across four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Kaiya Mineo, Olivia Madruga, Julia Carrancho and Mackayla Allen all had hits in the frame to pace the attack.
Gloucester added another run in the third before ultimately putting the game out of reach in the fifth inning with four more runs. Madruga, Carrancho, Tasara Frontiero and Laila Ciarmitaro all had hits in the decisive frame, with Ciaramitaro’s key double driving in a pair.
“It was just one of those nights”, said Fenwick coach Brian Seabury, his team wrapping up the season at 7-13. “We scored 22 runs the other night against similar pitching, but tonight we couldn’t do anything at all at the plate.”
Gloucester was active on the base paths, too, stealing eight bases in the game — four of which came from Maddie Goodhue — to keep the pressure on the visitors throughout the evening. The Fishermen had 12 hits in all, with Madruga (2 RBI) and Carrancho (2 RBI) leading the attack with three singles each.
Ciaramitaro added two hits in the win and Ava Paone had one, while Emma Carrapichosa, Aleena Brown and Allen drove in one apiece.
The Fishermen will now move on to the Elite Eight and hope to continue playing great softball to keep things rolling. Should Dighton-Rehoboth advance, Gloucester would hit the road for the matchup. But if Medway pulls off the upset, the Fishermen would have the luxury of hosting one more home game.
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Sports Editor Nick Giannino contributed to this report.