By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
With two outs in the top of the seventh inning of the semifinal round of the Division III South Sectional playoffs, varsity softball coach Chris Maury called his team to the center circle to give pitcher Jessica Guevara a breather.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Senior co-captain Jessica Guevara pitched all seven innings Wednesday, allowing two runs and seven hits, while striking out four and walking none to lead the Whalers to the victory. |
The Whalers had a comfortable 5-0 lead at the start of the inning, but West Bridgewater had threatened to make things interesting by scoring two runs.
But the powwow worked, and on the next pitch, the Wildcats’ Tayla Miller lofted the ball softly toward Angela Paterson in center field.
“I knew she had it. Every time it goes to her she has it, so it was perfect,” Guevara said after the Whalers celebrated the 5-2 victory and the squad’s first-ever berth in the sectional finals.
“It feels great. We thought we could do it and we did. I think we are an awesome team. We work hard all of the time. We have a lot of good players and we did an awesome job today,” senior co-captain Grace-Anne Tornovish said.
With the victory the second-seeded Whalers, now 19-4, advance to the south sectional finals against top-seeded Cohasset Sunday or Monday. The Division III front-runners split the regular season series with one win each.
Wednesday’s victory in the semifinals, which tied the school sports record for most wins in a season at 19, was a big hurdle for the Whalers, who have been eliminated in the semifinal round the past two seasons.
“The third time is the charm,” Maury said. “We didn’t feel we were respected coming in here by the other teams. We know we are a good team. We know we are a team that can hit the ball. We know we are team that can play defense and that’s exactly what we did today.”
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Shortstop Lindsay Fry gets West Bridgewater's Adria Kotsiopoulos out on a force play at second base in the first inning of Wednesday's 5-2 semifinal-round victory over the Wildcats. |
Guevara got the call in the circle and kept the West Bridgewater batters on edge throughout the game.
“I wasn’t nervous. I was really pumped and I wanted it,” Guevara said.
“She is not going to overpower anybody. She keeps the ball right around the strike zone and we make plays behind her,” Maury said.
The Wildcats, who came into the game as the three-seed in the tournament, had runners on base in every inning except the fourth, but the Whalers did not give an inch on defense to allow any extra bases. Morgan Dugan, Lindsay Fry and Morgan Tornovish each made key plays to keep West Bridgewater off the basepaths.
Meanwhile, the Whalers capitalized on Wildcat fielding mistakes to get on the board in the second inning. Thayer Dugan reached on an error by the second baseman, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Grace-Anne Tornovish, and scored on a single up the middle by Guevara.
But it was on the second run through the order that the Whalers really got to West Bridgewater starting pitcher Adria Kotsiopoulos. Paterson, Fry, Morgan Dugan and Kelly Reid hit four straight singles as Nantucket posted three runs to break open the close game.
“We put the ball in play a lot and we made a lot of things happen and that is what this game is all about. We had great energy. When we hit the ball, we ran the bases well and did what we needed to do to put the runs on the board,” Maury said.
The Whalers added an insurance run in the fourth. Sally Benson reached on a fielding error by Kotsiopoulos and came home on a single by Fry.
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