Johnston rolls past Davies to advance in D-II playoffs

Johnston Sun Rise ·

The Johnston Lady Panthers trounced the Davies Patriots, 9-2, in the preliminary round of the D-II playoffs on Tuesday afternoon in Johnston.

The Panthers sent their ace Madison Plouffe to the circle and she did not disappoint. The junior finished with six strikeouts and one walk while yielding two runs in a complete-game effort.

Plouffe was on the big stage and she wasn’t going to let any noise from the opposing team’s dugout distract her.

“I always go into the inning and block everything out,” Plouffe said. “They’re going to be loud, but you just have to block everything out. We just have to go strong. We started off pretty slow, but then we got the hang of it. I just pitch it in there and I trusted my defense, and we just did it together.”

Junior Jordan Moretti led the Panthers’ offense, going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Lauren Civetti, the junior second baseman, followed with a double and two RBIs and sophomore Sophia DaCosta added a single with two RBIs.

The matchup started out as a pitchers’ duel, but once the Johnston bats got hot, the game changed. Davies’ Tanya Cooper looked sharp starting out, but the Panthers were eventually able to get to her.

“I think that it doesn’t take just one hit to make somebody uncomfortable,” Civetti said. “We all kind of came together to make sure that she wasn’t feeling good in there. So I think everybody doing something today really helped us to pull out a team win.”

Plouffe struck out Davies’ first batter, senior Kelsey Daigle. Plouffe walked the next hitter before getting Samantha Lisi to hit a comebacker and Cooper to pop out to get out of the inning.

Cooper started in the circle for Davies in the bottom of the first. The sophomore had a 1-2-3 inning while earning back-to-back strikeouts on Moretti and Civetti before getting DaCosta to ground out.

It was more of the same in the second inning. Plouffe struck out both Madeline Brassard and Julianna Desautel before getting Alaynah Rubio to pop up, retiring the side in order.

In the bottom of the inning, Cooper struck out Gianna Vizzacco and Emily Raposo and got Katarina St. Angelo to pop out.

Johnston got on the board in the bottom of the third. With one out, Samantha Febus worked a walk. Febus took second on a ground ball out from Plouffe. With two down, Moretti hit an infield single, putting runners at the corners. Shortly after, Moretti stole second. Then, Civetti blasted a double into left-center to score both runners, giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead.

Davies would immediately cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth when the leadoff hitter, Lisi, launched a deep fly ball over the head of the center fielder, Febus, for an inside-the-park home run, pulling it within 2-1. However, Davies would strand two runners when Rubio was caught trying to steal second.

With one on and one out in the bottom of the fourth, Raposo crushed an RBI triple into the gap in right-center to extend the Panthers’ lead to 3-1.

Plouffe was still dealing in the top of the fifth and she had a 1-2-3 inning.

Johnston opened it up in the bottom of the inning. With one out and the bases loaded, DaCosta hit a two-RBI single to right-center, scoring Plouffe and Moretti while increasing the Panthers’ lead to 5-1. Next, Civetti came home on a ground ball out from Vizzacco, making it 6-1. With two outs, St. Angelo reached base on what should have been a routine pop up, but the Davies’ second baseman misplayed it and DaCosta came trotting home, giving the Panthers a 7-1 edge.

Davies got one back in the top of the sixth. Lisi led off with a single to right field. Then, Cooper obliterated a double to center, scoring Lisi, pulling Davies within 7-2. Cooper would get thrown out at home plate to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Johnston got more insurance. Sophomore Kelsey Scott led off with a single. Then, Febus followed it with a walk. Shortly after, Moretti hit a two-RBI double to right, scoring both runners and extending the Panthers’ lead to 9-2.

With the win, Johnston headed for a showdown with the No. 3 seed, South Kingstown, on Wednesday. Despite losing to Rebels three times over the last three years, Civetti and company was confident that they could beat them this time around.

“I think that we have a really strong team this year and seeing how we played today, we can definitely pull off a win tomorrow,” Civetti said.

Johnston head coach Manny DaCosta was delighted with his team’s performance.

“We go to double-elimination now, so that was a big step for us,” Manny DaCosta said. “And I truly believe we have a shot at winning.”

The Panthers have hung with the top teams this year. Earlier in May, Johnston fell to No. 1 seed North Smithfield by a score of 5-4 and beat No. 2 seed Mount St. Charles, 6-4.

The Panthers came in as the No. 6 seed and Davies the No. 11 seed.