By STEVE MAZZONE

Sports writer

NORTH SMITHFIELD – When it comes down to the final few teams in the postseason, never is playing a sound defensive game more important.
Ponaganset High showed up at North Smithfield with a full team in Thursday’s Division II, Region I losers’ bracket finals on Thursday. Unfortunately, it left most of its defense on the bus.
The fifth-seeded Northmen had the offense, belting out a dozen hits, but it also was able to capitalize on six miscues by the No. 8 seed Chieftains en route to a convincing 12-5 verdict. The win earns the defending state titlist a semifinal match-up with top-seed Prout this Saturday afternoon at Pierce Field. With the setback, the Chieftains’ season comes to a close.
After dropping their first game of the playoffs – a 10-0 loss to Mount Hope on May 28 – Ponaganset had two big wins over Tolman and Exeter/West Greenwich to earn its date with the Northmen. PHS head coach Anthony Parrillo was hoping that momentum would extend to Thursday’s tilt.
“After (Mount Hope) we just realized if we just go out there and play we would be fine, and we did. We played a couple of great games. Tuesday (against fourth-seeded Exeter/West Greenwich) was probably the best we played all season,” said Parrillo, whose squad clouted three homers in a 9-5 win over the Scarlet Knights. “We were hoping it was going to carry over until today, but it didn’t. You play good games, you win. You play bad games and you don’t.”
North Smithfield had a chance to do some damage on the Chieftains’ first error of the game in the top of the second inning, but couldn’t get it done. Starting pitcher Nick Naradowy led off the frame when his deep fly ball was dropped by left-fielder Dan Lefebvre. Nick Boudreau, Ponaganset’s freshman starter, was able to get out of the early jam by striking out the next three betters.
In the next inning, the Chieftains weren’t quite as lucky as the host scored five runs that were fueled by a pair of errors and a wild pitch.
North Smithfield’s No. 8 batter Pat O’Brien began the third with a leadoff double and from there the trouble began for the Chieftains. Nick Aridano followed and reach base when he hit a grounder to Boudreau that the pitcher threw too high to first baseman Matt Sprague, allowing the Northmen to have runners at the corners
North Smithfield would score its first run on a sacrifice fly by catcher Kevin Okruta, The Northmen would continue to pelt away at Boudreau with three straight singles from Eric D’Agostino, Brian Van Pelt and Naradowy. The real heartbreaker occurred on the very next batter when Ben Shatraw’s hard grounder was mishandled by second baseman Dan Buckley – a two-base error that scored D’Agostino and Van Pelt. Naradowy would eventually be plated on a wild pitch.  
“We talked about capitalizing on opportunities after the second inning. Nick got on base after that dropped ball and we didn’t take advantage of it,” said N.S. head coach Marc Talbot. “It happened a couple of times today. You got to give us credit for putting the ball in play and putting pressure on the defense. We did that today and it worked out well.”
Ponaganset did demonstrate its power in the top of the fourth, scoring three runs that were triggered by a trio of hits from Sprague, Larry Colaluca and Adam Babcock. Sprague led off the inning by whacking a double. He was followed by two mammoth run-scoring triples from Colaluca and Babcock. Babcock scored when the ball got by Okruta after a strikeout by Wyatt Huston and the N.S. catcher tossed to first for the out.
North Smithfield made the two-run deficit short-lived by scoring four runs in the bottom of the fourth and three more in the fifth. During that stretch, the Chieftains committed four of their errors. Van Pelt (RBI single) and Aaron Catarina (two-run single) each had key at-bats in the fourth.
“When Nick’s on the mound and we got five runs you think to yourself that they got to get six to beat us,” said Talbot, while making reference to his ace pitcher. “When they came back and got their three because Nick wasn’t at his best today, I thought it was really important for us to get a couple right away. We got four in the next inning. I really appreciate that. We stayed focused and we got some back on the board.”
Ponaganset finished its season with an 11-7 mark in II-North and 14-10 overall.
“It was a good season,” Parrillo said. “I told the guys at the end don’t let today’s game take anything away from the season. It was a good season and I am proud of the guys and how they played. Every game they played hard right to the end.”
North Smithfield now takes on a familiar foe when it battles Prout in the semifinals this Saturday at 3 p.m. The Crusaders sent the Northmen to the losers’ bracket on Tuesday with a 9-6 victory on their home field. The two rivals also faced each other in last year’s finals, which the Northmen won in three games.
“We got to beat them twice and they’re rested. They have their pitching lined up. We are going to have to work a little harder,” Talbot said. “They are an exceptionally good hitting team. They find gaps like no team we faced this year, except maybe Mount St. Charles. Our defense is going to have to play very well.”
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Ponaganset 000 301 1 – 5 9 6
North Smithfield 005 430 x – 12 11 2
Nicholas Boudreau, Zach Daigle and Larry Colaluca. Nick Naradowy, Connor Naradowy (6) and Kevin Okruta. 2B – P, Matt Sprague. NS, Pat O’Brien, Benjamin Shatraw. 3B – P, Colaluca, Adam Babcock. NS, N. Naradowy.