D-II Softball Playoffs: Johnston Over E-WG, 4-3

The Lady Panthers moved one step closer to a Division II title with a 4-3 victory over Exeter-West Greenwich on June 3 at Mazzulla Field.

Entering the tournament as the number-8 seed, Johnston hosted the Scarlet Knights on an afternoon when gusty winds kicked up clouds of sand and led to several brief delays in the action.

With the victory, Johnston advanced to the next round of the Division II playoffs, set to continue on June 3 at 4 p.m. against top-seeded East Greenwich High School.

E-WG scored in the top of the first when Shannon Laiho hit an RBI grounder that brought in Katelyn McElroy. The Scarlet Knights held Johnston scoreless in the home half of the first, with two fly-outs and an Amanda Columbo ground-out.

Julianna Tefft brought McElroy around for the Knights' second score in the top of the third on an RBI grounder for first base.

Johnston's Columbo evened the score in the bottom of the fourth with an inside-the-park homer that also brought in Danielle Gawlik.

Coach Dave Iannuccilli called Columbo's hit "the play of the game" and gave a game ball to the player he calls his "super sophomore" for bringing Johnston even.

"You can't look at the ball — you have to keep going," Columbo explained of her approach to making the four-bagger.

Senior Megan Macera helped Bianca Rossi home with a pop-fly to shortstop later in the inning to give Johnston the lead, 3-2.

In the top of the fifth, E-WG tied the contest again on a McElroy grounder that made it to center field and brought Alexis Jenzejec across the plate.

Columbo struck again in the bottom of the fifth for the Lady Panthers on a two-out single that scored senior catcher Victoria St. Angelo for a lead that Johnston would not relinquish.

Senior pitcher Alaina DeNoncour nailed down the win with a pair of 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh, and after the contest, Iannuccilli said that DeNoncour was actually pitching harder at the end of the game.

"She throws strikes — she doesn't walk people, she doesn't put extra people on base," Iannuccilli explained. "(DeNoncour) wanted to play another day."

"I can't say enough for (DeNonocour) and the catcher there (St. Angelo)," E-WG Coach Joe Abarr said after the contest. "They work well, they call good sequences, and they never seem to get down on themselves, no matter how tough it gets — we went up 2-0 there and I never saw a difference in the way they played."

Abarr said his squad, which split their season series with Johnston, entered the contest expecting a challenge.

"They're a great team and they play the game the right way, so I knew it was going to be a good game from the get-go," Abarr explained, adding that the Lady Panthers' offense was a key focus for the Scarlet Knights. "We tried to amp ourselves up for that this week in practice, because they hit the ball a ton."

We had a couple of loose ends that came back in the end to bite us, but I can't really complain too much. I think they showed a lot of heart today," the coach added.

E-WG came into the 2010-11 season as defending champs, Abarr explained, "so, a lot of people would say we had a target on our back."

In evaluating the season, Abarr said his team performed admirably.

"I'm proud of our girls altogether — I think, as a team, we grew a lot as the year went along," Abarr explained. "In the beginning, we struggled a lot. The first time we played Johnston, we were up, then we went down and we just fell apart — that's the type of thing that didn't happen to us toward the end of the season, and you could even see it today, we were fighting right down to the end.

"I think it was just the better team that came away from it today," Abarr said.