Defense the decider for title-bound St. Mary’s

LOWELL — Last season, as the No. 10 seed, St. Mary’s reached the Final Four before bowing out, one game away from the championship. During the preseason and throughout the regular season the goal was not only to get back to the Final Four, but to get to the next game. On Tuesday afternoon, No. 2 St. Mary’s punched its ticket to Polar Park for the state championship game with a 1-0 win over No. 6 Tantasqua Regional.

The Spartans, like they have all season, relied on its defense to get the job done.

In the top of the third inning, Tantasqua’s Petey Casine got on base with a single. Then with one out, lead-off hitter Colm McGrath hit a deep shot to center field.

Center fielder Devin Duval fielded the ball and launched it to shortstop Michael DeMaino. DeMaino without hesitation fired it home as Casine rounded third. The ball got to catcher Kyle Doney with plenty of time to tag the runner out to keep the game scoreless.

“That was huge. That’s the second time Devin has done that this season, the second time DeMaino’s done it. They’re a great duo for that,” starting pitcher Jack Zimmerman said. “It completely changed the game.”

Zimmerman got the call on the mound and he delivered, going five innings with six strikeouts and the all-important win.

In the Sweet 16, Zimmerman started but was replaced early in the game after 1 1/3 innings. Despite it not being his best game of the season, Zimmerman proved he has a strong mentality and came up big for St. Mary’s to get to the state championship game.

“I just trusted my defense with everything. That first game didn’t go as well as I wanted, but I knew I had the defense behind me to back it up,” Zimmerman said. “Everything went to plan. I’m fully confident in my guys.”

His catcher, Kyle Doney, said he knew Zimmerman was going to have a strong game based on the warmups.

“Based on his bullpen, he pitched a really good bullpen before the game,” Doney said. “I was feeling strong and as long as he was feeling strong too, then we were going to be on the same page.”

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Shea Newhall ripped a single to start the inning. Newhall was replaced by pinch-runner Gabe Diaz. After an error trying to catch Diaz off-guard at first, Diaz swiped two bases, getting to third.

With a man on third and no outs, the Spartans had their best chance to deliver with Duval up. Duval hit a fly ball to left field. The ball was deep enough to score Diaz, although Diaz almost messed up the tag. Despite not tagging the “traditional” way, Diaz had enough time and speed to get back to the bag, touch it, and run home to make it 1-0.

“That play is still stuck in my head. We practice the tag every day at practice,” head coach Derek Dana said. “What I did like about him [Diaz] is that he picked me up before he hit second base. He never hesitated coming around second base and that was a close play at the end there.”

Dana praised the big plays from Duval and his selfless attitude.

“That kid, Devin Duval, has made a number of plays like that all season long. He’s phenomenal. He’s the epitome of what you want to coach,” Dana said. “You pinch hit for him, he doesn’t change. He has to get a hit, he gets a big hit today, [and] he gets the bunt down. He’s a pleasure to coach.”

In the top of the sixth inning, Zimmerman was replaced with Jacob Peterson to get the final six outs. Zimmerman struck out three batters in two innings to pick up the save.

“He’s been nails for us all season,” Zimmerman said.

“Pretty much the epitome of our season. We got some very good pitching and our defense has been very good all year long,” Dana said about the win.

Now with a chance to be called state champions, both Zimmerman and Doney are looking forward to Saturday.

“It feels great. We’re going to be at Worcester Park and [Josh] Doney is pitching and he’s been great all year,” Zimmerman said.

“Big win from Zim and Petey. We’ve come a long way. From practicing every day to now, it’s the little things that clearly took us to the state championship today,” Doney said.

St. Mary’s will face off against defending state champions Oakmont Reg. on Saturday at Polar Park with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.

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