Coach Giarusso helped boost our confidence. He knew that we could win this game and that we have a chance to win this whole entire thing.”

Senior catcher Grace Stephenson

After losing to Toll Gate 11-7 in the Division II winner's bracket quarterfinals on Monday evening, the Mt. Hope offense found their mojo and erupted for 11 hits as they crushed Narragansett 13-3 in the loser's bracket quarterfinals at the high school on Tuesday afternoon.

Mt. Hope will now host East Greenwich in the loser’s bracket semifinals Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. If the Huskies win, they would play the loser of the winner’s bracket semifinals, before vying for the championship.

Standing on the pitcher's mound after the game, senior catcher Grace Stephenson spoke about how coach Giarusso got the team ready to play after the team's loss on Monday.

“Coach Giarusso helped boost our confidence,” Stephenson said. “He knew that we could win this game and that we have a chance to win this whole entire thing.”

“It started out a little iffy, said head coach Craig Giarusso of the game against Narragansett, "We made a couple of errors, but the team just rallied together and played the way that we are capable of playing. If we play this way going forward, I think that we are going to be very tough to beat.”

Stephenson and Amaral lead Huskies offensive attack

Senior clean up hitter Grace Stephenson and junior five hitter Reily Amaral belted homers for the second straight game and three hitter Jayda Sylvia smashed two hits and drove in three runs to lead the Huskies offensive attack. 

“I was in a slump for a little bit, so it’s nice getting all of these hits,” said Stephenson. “The pitchers are a lot better than what we saw during the regular season,” she said.

Stephenson spoke about not getting down when the bats are quiet and keeping the team’s spirit up.

“If we are hitting it sets the tone,” she said. “We have to keep it up and keep the team up.”

"Coach tells me, to just make contact. It will go. I have the power,” said Amaral when asked about her recent power surge. “I just have to make contact and I feel that’s what I’ve been doing, finally.”

The Huskies scored two runs in the first, one in the third, broke out for seven in the fourth and scored three in the fifth. Lead off hitter Elsa White smacked a pair of hits and scored three runs. Julia Allen also had two hits and scored two runs. Sydney Crowell, Logan Levesque and Sammy Malafronte each had a hit and scored a run.

Amaral whiffed nine Mariners

Amaral, Mt. Hope’s ace, had all of her filthy pitches working as she whiffed nine Mariners while allowing just three hits, two walks and three runs in five innings of work. Amaral struck out the side in the first inning and the offense wasted no time stringing hits off Mariners’ pitcher Olivia Waranis.

“We worked as a team,” Amaral said of the team’s play in the field. “We kind of got comfortable with winning. The past couple of games we’ve been cruising and that’s not going to work in the playoffs, against better teams. We had to step it up at some point and today we finally did.”

White, Sylvia score in the bottom of the first 

White reached on an error in the bottom of the first, quickly stole second base and scored on Jayda Sylvia’s one out single to right field. With two out and Sylvia on third base, Amaral smashed an RBI single up the middle to give Mt. Hope a 2-0 lead.

Errors lead to runs in the top of the second

Amaral walked the first batter in the second inning and the Huskies defense made two straight errors that instantly turned into two Mariners runs to tie the score 2-2. Amaral prevented further damage by striking out Narragansett lead off hitter Mackenzie Gallagher to end the inning.

Waranis held the Huskies scoreless in the bottom of the second and Amaral one upped her by striking out the side in order in the top of the third inning.

Stephenson majestic blast puts Huskies up 3-2

In the bottom of the third, Stephenson put the Huskies up 3-2 with a majestic blast over the left centerfield wall. She got a high five from Coach Giarusso as she rounded third and her teammates met her at home plate and celebrated the lead.

But it was short lived as Narragansett tied the score 3-3 in the top of the fourth inning. Amaral yielded a walk to Lindsay Moricas. She took second base on a force out and scored on a two out double by Samantha Cronin.

Huskies break out for seven hits and seven runs

The Huskies got serious and broke out for seven hits and seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 10-3 lead. Sammy Malafronte led off with a walk and moved to second on a force out by Alice Grantham. Julia Allen blooped a single to right field to give Mt. Hope runners at the corners. Coach Giarusso sent Malafronte home on a passed ball to give Mt. Hope a 4-3 lead. Allen moved to third on the play and scored on an infield hit by Elsa White. White stole second base and scored on Sydney Crowell’s hit to right field. Crowell stole second and scored on Sylvia’s base hit to center field. Sylvia ran to second on the late throw home, stole third and scored on a passed ball to give the Huskies an 8-3 lead.

With two out and the bases empty, Amaral stepped to the plate and crushed a Waranis fast ball  over the left center field fence to give Mt. Hope a 9-3 lead. The Huskies flew the dugout and met her at the plate to celebrate. The Mt. Hope ace went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI in the five inning game.

With two out and the bases still empty, Logan Levesque singled to right field. Malafronte up for the second time in the inning, smashed a double to the left centerfield gap. Levesque rounded second and saw Coach Giarusso urging her to third. She stepped on the gas, motored around third and scored to give Mt. Hope a 10-3 lead. Grantham grounded out to end the inning.

Amaral and Huskies hold Mariners scoreless in fifth

The Mariners threatened in the top of the fifth but Amaral struck out two and got Waranis to hit a fly ball to White in left field to get out of the inning unscathed. Mariners fans on the third baseline gave kudos to the sophomore outfielder as she ranged to her right to make the out.

Allen, White and Sylvia score in the fifth

Mt. Hope scored three runs to ice the win in the bottom of the bottom of the fifth inning. Allen, White and Sylvia scored to end the game and the Mariners season under the league’s ten-run rule.

The team still has an uphill battle, having to win two straight games to get to the championship and then beat the winner’s bracket champ twice to win the state championship.

“We’re going to play five or six days straight. It’s going to take a toll on everybody,” said coach Giarusso. “If we can mentally stay strong, I think that we’ll be in a good spot.”

Stephenson’s motto for the team is to play hard and win every inning going forward.

Go Huskies!