Here's how La Salle staked claim to the top spot in RI high school softball against Prout
PROVIDENCE — While its record might be perfect, the La Salle softball team knows its far from it. The Rams are beatable and, when they hand out opportunities, opponents have to cash in.
When they don’t, what happened Sunday happens.
The tone against Prout, the surprise of the 2024 softball season, was set in the first inning. The Crusaders had an opportunity to jump out to the lead in the top of the first but couldn’t convert. In the bottom half, La Salle took advantage of Prout mistakes, grabbed a lead, and then, with Hailey Vigneau doing her thing in the pitcher's circle, finished off a 5-1 victory that kept the Rams’ perfect record intact but let them know they’re hardly perfect.
“It definitely feels good winning but everyone knew it wasn’t our best game today,” La Salle’s Giuliana Ialongo said. “We put our best foot forward, our energy was high and we grinded out a game like that.”
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The first inning usually doesn’t determine an entire game, but the first frame showed how far Prout has to go if it wants to be a champion, and it showed why La Salle is the favorite to repeat this spring.
After going 5-13 last spring, the Crusaders’ start has been incredible all season and the team certainly didn’t show up for this game just for fun.
The energy emitted from the dugout was palpable and the volume grew after Emma Manzo led off with a bloop single and Meadow D’Iorio followed with a walk. Prout was ready to explode when Molly Green blooped a hit to right field, but suddenly there was silence. Manzo didn’t get a good read on the ball and had to stop at third and, by the time D’Iorio noticed, it was too late and she was thrown out at second.
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All of a sudden, the momentum was back on La Salle’s side of the diamond and it fed through Vigneau in the center. Vigneau struck out the next two batters and Rams knew they had escaped.
“I have to pitch every inning like it’s 0-0, whether it’s a high-scoring game or a close game like that. I have to keep an even keel,” Vigneau said. “I just had to stay even and keep my nerves down. You just have to stay focused.”
Missing an opportunity was tough, but handing runs over to La Salle didn’t help Prout’s start.
Ialongo opened the bottom of the first with a high fly to right that was dropped, getting to third in the process. Phoenyx Silva was hit by a pitch and took second and, after a strikeout, Ialongo scored on a wild pitch. Elle Kershaw bunted Silva home to make it 2-0 but La Salle wasn’t done. Samantha Sell walked with two outs, then scored when Alivia Ring’s line drive wasn’t handled and trickled into right field, giving Sell enough time to score.
In the bottom of the second, La Salle added two more thanks to three walks in the inning, an error that allowed a run to score and Sell wearing a pitch to bring home the other run.
“We’re definitely the type of team to take advantage of those mistakes,” Ialongo said. “Whether its on the bases stealing, being aggressive at bat or making our plays in the field.”
Vigneau made sure the lead stuck. The sophomore continued to dazzle, tickling the strike zone and keeping Prout’s bats off balance all afternoon. The Crusaders managed one run off her after doubles by D’Iorio and Lucy Kaiser in the third but didn’t threaten again until the seventh.
La Salle led, 5-1, Prout loaded the bases with one out, but Vigneau again got down to business and ended the game by striking out a batter and inducing a foul pop to first to seal the win.
“We still have work to do,” Vigneau said. “We have to stay focused with each other and we have to rely on each other. Good teamwork.”
No loss was going to satisfy Prout, but losing the way it did was certainly frustrating. The Crusaders players know they’re a better team than the one that played on Sunday and know that if they want to be a championship-caliber team, that performance can’t happen again.
“Our games the next two weeks are very important and against good teams, starting with La Salle,” Prout’s Molly Green said. “It’s a good point so see where we’re at and how we compare with teams coming up.
“We need to clean up a lot — those errors, my throws, take care of the ball first. We have to give 100-percent effort and it’s something we say all the time, but sometimes it can get lost.”
La Salle is one of two undefeated teams left in Division I — Coventry is the other, with the two scheduled to meet in Providence on May 7 — and will try to stay that way as long as possible.
The Rams’ goal, according to Vigneau, is to get 1 percent better every day. It’s a necessary mindset, especially with every team in Division I gunning for them.
La Salle knows its not perfect, knows it can be beat and confirmed as much on Sunday.
“We’re obviously not satisfied. We also put our grind on practice,” Ialongo said.
“We always play with a chip on our shoulder — nothing is given to us. We’re forgetting about last year; we’re always ready to play no matter who it is.”
“We can’t let it get to our heads,” Vigneau said. “We have to realize that we still have a lot more to accomplish and we’re still getting started.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: La Salle softball shows why it's undefeated as it handles Prout
