Saugus Trying to Lace Title With Leather

Coach Ron Hilton insists he has very little to do with the success of the Saugus High softball team, which will play tonight for the Southern Section Division II championship.

“There is so much talent,” he said. “I just try to stay out of the way.”

He can afford to now that he has solved what was a puzzle.

Saugus started the season with two gaping holes in its infield before Hilton moved his best outfielders, Nicole Giordano and Jill Passafiume, to shortstop and catcher.

A couple of good choices. The third-seeded Centurions (26-4) probably would not be facing top-seeded Woodbridge (28-5) at 7:30 p.m. at Mayfair Park in Lakewood had Hilton not made those moves.

Pitcher Jamie Gillies has 20 strikeouts and has allowed only one unearned run in 32 innings during the playoffs. Ninety-one percent of the other outs have been made by Hilton’s patchwork infield.

“My defense is awesome,” Gillies said.

The Centurions have committed only 27 errors in 30 games. They have 11 errorless games.

With Gillies being a ground-ball pitcher, Giordano, third baseman Chris Gill, second baseman Amanda Melton, first baseman Tracy Passafiume and catcher Jill Passafiume have done most of the work.

In the playoffs, Saugus has made two errors in 32 innings. A bad pickoff throw led to the only postseason run scored against Saugus, by La Mirada in a 3-1 loss to the Centurions on Tuesday.

“We wanted to build our success around defense,” Hilton said. “We pitch fairly well and we play good defense. Consequently, you’re going to have to beat us. We don’t beat ourselves.”

Not very often, at least. The only aberration was the season-high four errors Saugus committed in a 3-0 loss to Woodbridge in April. All three Warrior runs were unearned.

Since then, the Centurions have used their gloves to earn a rematch.

“I think this infield just jells together,” said Gillies (23-3), who has an earned-run average of 0.47 and 140 strikeouts in 163 innings.

“Everyone knows the plays and the signs. And that’s important when every play is a split-second between being safe or out.”

Gillies is so confident in her defense that she didn’t get nervous in the sixth inning Tuesday when La Mirada, trailing by two runs, loaded the bases with one out. The next batter, Nicole Larson, hit a sharp grounder to shortstop Giordano, who fired to Jill Passafiume to get a forceout at home. Nancy Howell followed with another grounder to Giordano, who threw to first, ending the inning.

Saugus outfielders have only seven putouts in the playoffs. Giordano has a team-high 20 assists in the same span. The infield is definitely where the action is. Melton has 18 assists, Gill 16, Gillies nine and Tracy Passafiume five.

Hilton questioned his decision to move Giordano the first week of the season.

“In our first game against Canyon, she threw a ball over the fence and out of our stadium,” Hilton said. “But you only have to tell Nicole something once.”

Giordano, a junior who has a batting average over .500 and has stolen 51 bases in 52 attempts, said she used to pray for the ball to be hit to somebody else in tight situations.

“But now I want it,” she said. “I love shortstop. There’s so much action.”

Gill, a four-time All-Foothill League player, anchors the infield. Melton, a sophomore who started as a freshman, has great range, particularly to her left. Tracy Passafiume, a junior, warms up for games by taking throws in the dirt.

After two other catchers had trouble handling Gillies’ pitches, Hilton brought senior Jill Passafiume in from right field. Not only has Passafiume been reliable, she calls pitches.

“[Passafiume] moved right in,” Hilton said. “After that, [Gillies] really elevated her game.”

So has Saugus.