SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : Slap Shot by Giordano Gives Saugus Kick-Start : Softball: Triple leads to two runs and Gillies pitches three-hitter in 4-0 victory.

Entering Friday’s first round of the Southern Section Division II softball playoffs, Saugus High leadoff hitter Nicole Giordano had a batting average of .504 in 101 at bats.

Batting practice did not seem necessary.

But Giordano, a sophomore, spent Thursday night working with a personal hitting coach on a new stroke she calls the “power slap.”

A power slap is a quick, compact swing that, when executed properly, surprises opposite-side infielders with a line drive or hard grounder.

With two out and no score in the bottom of the third inning, Giordano executed it to perfection and sparked a 4-0 Centurion victory over Bishop Montgomery.

Top-seeded Saugus (23-4) will play at La Mirada in Tuesday’s second round. La Mirada beat Apple Valley, 2-0.

“I was real nervous when I got up,” said Giordano, a left-handed batter who grounded out to third base on a low, outside pitch her first time at bat. “I had two strikes and [Knights’ pitcher Michelle Viveras] threw the same pitch she got me on the first time.”

Giordano slapped a hard grounder past diving shortstop Jill Sarmiento and into the gap in left-center field for a triple, driving home pinch-runner Jenny Ridnor. Jill Passafiume followed with a chop single to left, scoring Giordano and making it 2-0.

“I wanted to get it up the middle and I was surprised,” Giordano said. “I didn’t think it would go exactly where I wanted.”

Saugus added two unearned runs in the fourth on two errors by the Knights and singles by Shannon McRoy and Jamie Gillies. But Gillies’ real contribution was her three-hit, nine-strikeout pitching.

She struck out five of the first six batters, allowed only two runners to reach second base and recorded four other outs on ground balls.

After she hit Sarmiento with a pitch to open the seventh, Gillies pounced on a chopper by Priscilla Camilang and started a rally-killing double play.

“I don’t need to strike out people, and that wasn’t going through my head,” said Gillies (18-4), who said she could have pitched better despite being behind in the count to only three of 23 batters. “I was just trying to get them out.”

Bishop Montgomery (13-12) threatened only once. Danielle Stronks opened the game with a single and was sacrificed to second. But Gillies struck out Camilang and Jenni Purchase to end the inning.

The only other player to reach second was Viveras, who doubled to center but was caught in a rundown between second and third.

“I think we held our own, but the errors hurt us,” Viveras said. “But then again, they could easily have mercy-ruled us.”