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Cranston West eliminates Coventry from RIIL Division I softball playoffs
CRANSTON — Paige Cote insists she’s having fun.
In the circle, the Cranston West ace doesn’t look it. Cote looks perpetually angry, ready to rip the beating heart out of an opponent’s chest if they have the audacity to make good contact on one of her offerings. This is who Cote needs to be in the circle and the bigger the challenge, the more intense she gets.
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On Thursday, she was pitching for the Falcons’ playoff life. Going up against two-time defending state champion Coventry, Cote looked angry and pitched like it. The senior threw a complete game two-hitter and struck out eight as Nicole Silvestri gave her an early run with a homer in the second inning that was all Cote needed in Cranston West’s 3-0 win, ending the Oakers’ season.
“All of us knew we lose and we go home,” Cote said. “None of us wants that because this season we have done so well. Last year we were a seven seed and we made our statement in the playoffs.
“This year everyone’s kind of seeing West as a threat and that’s what given us the power to beat these teams.”
Cote’s pitching has certainly helped.
There was no doubt she was locked in the second she stepped into the circle. Every softball pitcher has a unique look during their delivery and release. Cote’s just happens to be a death stare.
For Cote, it’s less about intimidation or attitude and more about being locked in on the task at hand.
“I know I look angry on the mound,” Cote said. “I’m just really focused so nothing from the surrounding areas can get to me, like the other team cheering and stuff. You really just have to focus it in and that’s what I did.”
The more intense the situation, the more intense Cote’s scowl gets. Her strength is in her precision and when she misses spots, it tends to lead to baserunners. Cote walked two runners in the first and two in the fifth but instead of panicking at the moment, her focus on the task at hand grew.
She ended the first by inducing a popout and ended the fifth with a strikeout. Coventry didn’t have a runner in scoring position in any other inning and managed only two hits, the last coming in the seventh inning when it was down by three runs.
“In every game, I give it my all and try to keep my composure on the mound, but in the playoffs especially,” Cote said. “Once the other team sees they’re starting to get to you, that’s when they can get ahead of you.
“I need to stay completely composed on the mound and just dialed in on the mound.”
Cote deserves the credit, but after the game, she was quick to point out the team effort it took with her batterymate Sofia Marella. While most of the state’s teams have a coach using a numerical code to signal pitches, Cote and Marella work the old-fashioned way. Marella flashes signs, Cote throws what her catcher says.
“Every time we come in I talk to Sofia. We talk about what worked, what didn’t work, what the hitter did last time,” Cote said. “There’s a lot of thought that goes into it. It’s good that we talk here so when we’re out on the mound, it’s all focus and we know what to do.”
One swing in the third provided all the runs Cote needed to upend Coventry.
Silvestri has burst onto the state scene early this spring and has shown tremendous promise as a power hitter. On Thursday, she led off the second inning with a shot to left field that showed up on T.F. Green’s radar.
“I’m trying to make contact to the middle of the gaps,” said Silvestri of her approach in the at-bat. “It came right off the barrel, middle of the bat. I knew it as soon as I hit it.
“It brought everyone up going into the top of the third and the energy stayed the same throughout every inning.”
Mia Crudale hit a two-out double in the bottom of the third and scored on a single by Lyndsey Brandow. Cranston West added its final run in the sixth when Silvestri hit an RBI single that scored pinch-runner Mia Santomassimo.
“We’ve been preaching from the beginning of the season coming out strong and Nicole definitely did that,” Cote said. “She’s a great hitter, a great player. [The home run] just pumped everyone up and knew that we had this game in the bag.”
Coventry came in confident but just didn’t have an answer for what Cote was bringing. Emily Cronin was strong in the circle for the Oakers, but the team needed more than the two hits provided by Sophie Chaignot in the second and Liliana Bell in the seventh.
“There is a good loss and a bad loss. I don’t think today was that bad,” Coventry catcher Elyse Saccoccio said. “They just outhit us and that was that. Their bats were live.”
The loss ends Coventry’s two-year reign as state champ and this year will be the first time since 2017 that the Oakers aren’t at RIC playing for the state title.
“I’m a little upset, to be honest,” Saccoccio, a senior, said. “I don’t know. I feel like we’ve had a good run the past four years, so I can’t really complain. Someone else will deserve it this year.”
Could that someone else be Cranston West?
The Falcons have a long road before they can even think about a title. They’ll host Sarah Trosin and Bay View Monday and the winner of that game will be at RIC to play the loser of Monday’s game between Pilgrim and La Salle.
Cote is more than ready.
“We need to make the tone intense,” Cote said. “Everyone play loose, but we need to keep it intense. Everyone needs to stay hyperfocused.
I have faith in all of us that we’re going to be fine.”
