Sports
Woonsocket Varsity Baseball: Villa Novans Capture Regional Crown
The Woonsocket High School varsity baseball team wins four games in four days to earn a Division II Final Four berth.
Woonsocket’s William Andino picked up three singles, a triple and scored four runs, and Andreas Brackett added three hits and two RBI to lead the fourth-seeded Villa Novans past the No. 13 Ponaganset Chieftains, 12-8, May 29 at Barry Field.
Andino’s first-inning single helped WHS to establish a five-run advantage before the second inning Sunday, and Brackett’s fifth-inning triple capped the Novans’ 12-run outburst.
“[The Chieftains] really hit the ball,” said Woonsocket head coach John Marsella. “We knew we were coming back on short rest with our pitching, and that we needed to score a bunch of runs, and we did.”
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Ponaganset produced five runs in a win at Woonsocket May 25, dropping the Novans to 0-1 in postseason play with the Day One upset. WHS took to the diamond again May 26, needing a victory to stay alive in the double-elimination regional tournament.
The Novans defeated No. 12 Exeter/West Greenwich, 2-1, and returned to Barry Field Friday, May 27 for a meeting with the fifth-seeded West Warwick Wizards. WHS emerged with a win to bring up another showdown with Ponaganset Saturday, May 28.
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The Novans toppled the Chieftains, 13-9, in North Scituate, setting the stage for Sunday’s winner-take-all finale.
“The bats woke up, and they seem to be playing with more confidence now, and that’s what we need going into the next round. We needed a confidence boost,” Marsella said.
Kory Lawrence picked up the win for WHS, pitching a one-two-three sixth inning before Brandon Perrico took the mound to finish the game in the seventh.
With the victory, Woonsocket advances to the Division II semifinals, set to begin June 1 at Pierce Field in East Providence. The Novans will play the No. 1 Johnston Panthers in a best-of-three series, and the winner will move on to the D-II finals at McCoy Stadium.
“Ponaganset gave us a scare, yesterday and today, but we’re proud of the way our guys played,” Marsella said. “They bounced back, and we’ll see where it takes us from here.”
