By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
The softball team streaked to the finish line of the regular season with two wins in four games this week, earning a three seed in the Division III South sectional tournament.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Nantucket Softball hosted Nauset last Saturday and came away with a 8-5 win. Senior, Olivia Hull, threw a no-hitter previously in the week in a match up against Sacred Heart. |
The Whalers defeated Parker Charter 18-1 Sunday after falling to Martha’s Vineyard 7-2 Saturday. Nantucket also split a doubleheader with Division I Sandwich last Wednesday, winning game one 2-1 on a walk-off home run by Jess Guevara and coming up just short in game two 3-2.
Nantucket finished the regular season 15-5 and is scheduled to host Bourne Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the first round of the playoffs. The Canalmen, who play in the split-division South Shore League against Division II playoff-bound teams such as Apponequet, Case and Old Rochester, earned the 14 seed with a record of 5-13 overall.
If the Whalers win Friday, they will play the winner of the 11th-seeded Avon vs. sixth-seeded Diman game at home Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Diman knocked Nantucket out of the tournament last year, handing the Whalers their only loss of the season.
Playing their ninth game in 11 days, Nantucket traveled to Sacred Heart in Kingston Sunday to play a neutral-site make-up game against Parker Charter. There was a different look to the line-up with a number of bench players seeing full playing time to rest the starters.
“It was just a good way to end the regular season. It was good to get the kids that don’t get a lot of playing time, the opportunity to play a full game. I think it speaks well to the strength of this team that you can use your bench and slaughter-rule a team,” head coach Chris Maury said.
Guevara pitched the first four innings, allowing only three hits while striking out nine. Kelly Reid came on to pitch the final inning and faced four batters while striking out two.
Whitney Butler (2-for-3, 3 RBI) got the offense going in the second inning with a two-run double to put the Whalers on top 4-0 early. Nantucket broke out for five more in the third and plated nine runs in the fourth to secure the slaughter-rule shortened game. Thayer Dugan (2-for-4, 3 RBI, 3 runs) knocked an RBI triple in the third and then added a two-run single in the fourth. Morgan Dugan (3-for-4, 4 RBI, 3 runs) also had a two-run triple in the inning.
After defeating the Vineyard in the first game of the season 3-2 in early April, the Whalers traveled to the Vineyard and lost.
“I think we were tired. The Vineyard’s energy seemed better than ours. They hit the ball a little better than we did and when they hit the ball they found spots where we weren’t and when we hit the ball they kept making the plays,” Maury said.
The Whalers held close for the first three innings, locked in a scoreless tie before the Vineyard broke out for three runs in the bottom of the fourth and four runs in the sixth to take the 7-0 lead.
“It seemed like we didn’t have the energy level we had with the Nauset game or the Sandwich games. The energy level has to be there when you go to the tournament. There can be no let-down. You have a let-down and you go home,” Maury said.
Nantucket scored two runs in the top of the seventh. Shantel Hanniford reached on a bunt single, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Reid. Fry plated Reid with a double for the only runs of the game.
The Whalers stunned Sandwich in the first of two games on Wednesday afternoon. The visiting Blue Knights needed to win their final three games to get into the tournament and the Whalers bumped them from Division I postseason competition with a walk-off homer courtesy of Guevara.
With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the final fifth inning, the junior third-baseman took the first pitch from Nancy Henry and drilled it to right field. She sprinted around the bases for the game-winning home run to end the game.
“I saw that thing coming off the bat, I knew it was heading to the gap and I knew she has the wheels to get around there. It was a great way to end a great ball game,” Maury said.
The Whalers defense kept them in the game, including a put-out by Sally Benson in the top of the fifth with the bases loaded to keep the score tied.
“That was a big play and that was something we have been trying to push at them more, to play more aggressively. She did a nice job of breaking on that ball and keeping it from going up the middle and then turning around and making the play. That was a very good play in a tight situation and that's what you look for in a game like that,” Maury said.
In game two, the Whalers had runners on base in every inning, but could not capitalize.
“We missed opportunities to put extra runs on the board. That’s something we are going to have to work at. We have to get more production out of the middle part of the order. When you come up with runners in scoring position, you really have to take it up a notch and try to make something happen,” Maury said.
Despite the missed opportunities, the Whalers still had the chance to tie the ball game in the final inning. Guevara led off with a double, but on a single to short left by Cassie Moran, Guevara was waved home by Maury and gunned down at the plate.
“I misread the ball coming out of the field,” Maury said.
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