By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
The varsity softball team was riding a nine-game winning streak before Blue Hills came to town. The Warriors upset the streaking Whalers 9-1 Tuesday afternoon after Nantucket picked up easy wins against Provincetown 21-0 Wednesday and Mashpee 10-6 Saturday.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Jessica Guevara bats lefty against Provincetown during the Whalers’ 21-0 victory at home last Wednesday. |
Nantucket is scheduled to play its final road game of the regular season today at Martha’s Vineyard before wrapping up with seven home games, including two double headers, over the next week.
The Whalers (9-3) had a chance to qualify for the postseason with their 10th win of the season Tuesday against Blue Hills, but did not play well against the visiting squad they had defeated 16-8 in the first meeting.
“They played much better than we did. We came out flat. We didn’t look good defensively, we didn’t look good offensively. We scored 16 runs against that pitcher the last time we faced her. We scored one today,” head coach Chris Maury said.
The Warriors were dropping hits just over the infielders and finding the gaps across the field. The Whalers were not helping themselves either, making three errors in the field.
“That’s not the way we have been playing the last nine games to get to this point,” Maury said. “Everything that could go right for them, went right for them. They got a lot of dink hits. They hit the ball and put it in play. We were flat-footed on defense. We were flat-footed on offense.”
Blue Hills scored once each in the first and third innings and broke out for five in the fourth. The Whalers, meanwhile, could get nothing going with the bats. Nantucket put runners on base in the first through fourth innings with two outs each time. Finally in the sixth, Morgan Tornovish singled and eventually scored on a passed ball.
The Whalers’ defense tallied three double plays in the game and cut down two runners on cut-off plays from the outfield. Catcher Parinda Darden also gunned down a runner attempting to steal second in the fifth.
The Whalers were in complete control Saturday against Mashpee. Nantucket was up 8-0 by the fourth inning before the Falcons scored three runs in the fifth and sixth innings to make things close.
Kelly Reid tallied a season-high 10 strikeouts in seven innings, allowing five singles and three earned runs. She also got things started at the plate, knocking a two-run double in the first inning, and scoring the third run to stake the Whalers to the 3-0 lead.
Ashley Clinger and Thayer Dugan plated two more runs in the third. Dugan was a perfect 4-for-4 with four singles, two RBI and one run scored in the game.
“That is exactly the way you want to play softball, hit hard ground balls up the middle for singles. The balls that you get in the air are the ones they can make plays on and make outs on. What we have done in the past two games is collect base hits and run the bases real well,” Maury said.
The first three batters reached and scored in the fourth inning as the Whalers opened up the game at 8-0.
The Whalers easily handled visiting Provincetown last Wednesday. Jessica Guevara and Morgan Tornovish combined to throw a one-hit shutout.
“We know we are a better team than Provincetown. You never know year in and year out what you are going to get there. They have played some close games with us, but they are young this year and we knew that. We started some people off the bench and we put all of our bench in after the first at-bat in the first inning,” Maury said.
The Whalers’ lineup pounded out 21 runs on 24 hits. Every player who stepped to the plate had at least one hit. Lindsay Fry and Guevara (two RBI) led the parade with four hits each, while Alexa Moran (three RBI) and Grace-Anne Tornovish (two RBI) added three hits in four plate appearances each.
Guevara pitched the first three innings and did not allow a hit, while striking out six. Morgan Tornovish came on for the final two innings of the slaughter-rule shortened game and allowed one hit and one walk while striking out two.each.
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