By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
Thayer Dugan stepped to the plate against Bourne with the bases loaded in the third inning of a scrimmage at the Mashpee Tournament Saturday.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Katie Godlesky came on to pitch in relief in the second scrimmage Saturday at Mashpee.
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The senior third baseman looked in midseason form as she knocked a triple into the gap between right and center field, clearing the bases and giving the Whalers an offensive spark for the rest of the preseason tournament.
The Nantucket softball team played four scrimmages Saturday, defeating Bourne and Worcester Academy, while falling to Merrimack, N.H. and Concord, N.H. as it geared up for the season-opener yesterday at Cohasset, too late for this edition of Sports.
All of Sunday’s tournament games were canceled due to inclement weather, preventing the baseball team, which skipped Saturday’s scrimmages, from getting any playing time.
It was not about wins and losses for the softball team this weekend. The Mashpee Tournament is an annual tune-up for teams of all levels representing Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
“My positive list is a lot longer than my negative list,” head coach Chris Maury said. “I was impressed with the way we put the bat on the ball in both the third and fourth games. We bunted the ball a little bit and did a good job. All four scrimmages we ran the bases very well.”
The Whalers settled into a nice groove and posted 27 runs in the four games while allowing only 12.
While there were a few obvious defensive lapses that need to be worked out through more playing time, for the most part the Whalers’ defense was solid. Team newcomer Angela Paterson made a diving catch in center field and Grace-Anne Tornovish made a couple key plays in right field. The infield core of Dugan at third, Lindsay Fry at shortstop and Jessica Guevara at second base made a number of solid plays throughout the tournament.
All four of the Whalers varsity pitchers saw some action with Kelly Reid getting the bulk of the work. Reid tossed three innings against Merrimack, Concord and Worcester Academy and despite some control problems in a few innings had a solid showing.
“When Kelly was pitching, when they were hitting the ball, everything was going to the right side, which tells me she was throwing pretty hard because they are not getting around on her,” Maury said.
Guevara got the start in game two for the first three innings, while Katie Godlesky and Morgan Tornovish each saw their first varsity appearances in later innings of the scrimmages.
Game time
The Whalers were cruising along against Merrimack in the early innings Saturday, jumping to a 3-0 lead on good baserunning in the first and an RBI double from Parinda Darden in the second. But in the third inning, Merrimack capitalized on some control issues by Reid and multiple passed balls by Darden behind the plate. The Tomahawks scored six runs on only two balls put into play: a fielder’s choice and a two-run double. Merrimack won the game 6-4.
“I thought in the first scrimmage we were a little tentative and we came out a little flat, but that is the first competition against another team. We made some mistakes that gave that team some runs. They didn’t really earn them,” Maury said.
In game two, the Whalers had the upper hand over Bourne. With the a solid defense behind them, Guevara allowed only two hits over three innings and Godlesky allowed two in two innings as Nantucket shut out the Canalmen.
At the plate Dugan had the three-run triple, Guevara tacked on a two-run single and Reid had an RBI single, all in a seven-run third inning, to secure the 9-0 five-inning win.
Nantucket played only three innings against Concord later in the afternoon and came out on the short end of a 6-4 score.
“We continued to hit the ball better. There were no strikeouts in that game. We put the ball in play and were able to score four runs against a good team,” Maury said.
The fourth and final game against Worcester Academy was originally scheduled for Sunday morning and moved to Saturday with the threat of rain. The Whalers had no trouble taking the easy 10-0 victory to wrap up the tournament with contributions from the entire bench.
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