Bishop Guertin's Stephanie Coulombe gets ready to tag out Alvirne's Jaelyn Green at third during the fourth inning of Guertin's 7-3 win Monday at Elliott Field. (Telegrpah photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Break up the Cardinals?

That could be a rallying cry from opponents soon. The Bishop Guertin High School girls softball team was a tone setter on Monday in winning their fourth straight, 7-3 over local rival Alvirne to improve to 5-2.

Clearly, these aren’t the Cards of past seasons. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back, answering just about every challenge a game Alvirne club presented with good pitching, timely hitting and stellar defense.

“One of the things we talked to the girls about was just playing their game and doing the little things,” Cards coach Leah Maciejewski said. “Once we’re able to do that, we can have a little bit of fun with it, which is nice.”

The Broncos (4-3) saw their own four game win streak snapped, but they certainly weren’t pushovers.

“I’m just proud of the way we kept coming back offensively each inning,” Alvirne coach Emily Kraytenberg said. “We put pressure on their defense, and put pressure on their pitching each inning, so that was a great job.”

Guertin picked up an unearned run in the first of Broncos starter Skye Merrow but then Petra Bajcek’s homer over the Elliott Field temporary fencing in left gave the Cards a 3-0 lead. Guertin only got four hits, but enjoyed the power.

“It’s something we had been struggling with with the live pitching, especially with a little bit of speed,” Maciejewski said. “But today we jumped on it.”

They expanded things to 5-1 on three walks and two wild pitches as Merrow had some control issues.

But the Broncos had some fight. Alvirne picked up a run in the third off BG starter Meghan Davey on Maddy Bradish’s RBI double, then closed to within 5-3 in the top of the fourth on Merrow’s solo homer and Megan Jacques’ RBI single.

It could have been more, but pinch runner Jaelyn Green was cut down by a throw across the diamond by first baseman Baily Doyle at third trying to advance on a ground out for an inning-ending double play. Ouch.

“I always encourage them to be aggressive, because it usually works out more than it doesn’t,” Kraytenberg said. “Unfortunately it didn’t work out for us that time. If it had, it would’ve been great.”

“We have a lot of leaders in our infield, so we’re not afraid to throw the ball,” Maciejewski said. “And Steph Coulombe has been playing great at third so we trust her to make the tag.”

The Cards responded right away in the bottom of the fourth with Stephanie Coulombe’s two run triple the spelled the end of Merrow to make it 7-3. Bronco reliever Courtney Marioles kept them in check the rest of the way with three frames of four-strikeout scoreless relief.

“Courtney did a great job coming in and shutting them down,” Kraytenberg said.

Meawhile, Doyle pitched two scoreless innings of relief on the BG end, and the Cards defense came up big again as Alex Nutting made a diving catch in right with two on in the top of the seventh. In past seasons, perhaps that doesn’t happen.

“Past years we’ve been talking about growth years,” Maciejewski said. “But I think now we’ve reached a point in our growth and our potential where we can actually do some damage.”