By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
Relying on a potent offensive attack and solid pitching, the varsity softball team is out to a perfect start to the season. The Whalers edged Martha’s Vineyard 3-2 in their home opener last Wednesday and followed with wins over Blue Hills 12-6, Cape Tech 18-2 and Chatham 11-2.
“It is great to start 4-0. I think at this point they know they are good, I want them to know that they could be even better. I try to push them a little bit,” head coach Chris Maury said.
The Whalers are scheduled to play five games over the next six days. They will host Sturgis today, visit Provincetown Friday, host Nauset Saturday, Mashpee Monday and Provincetown Tuesday.
The team got an emotional boost from the come-from-behind victory over Martha’s Vineyard and has been playing solid softball ever since. Senior pitcher Olivia Hull has three complete-game victories and 26 strikeouts to open the season, while freshman first-baseman Kelly Reid has torn it up at the plate with a 9-for-12 stretch of hitting. She also earned her first varsity pitching victory with 12 strikeouts in seven innings in the win over Cape Cod Tech.
On Tuesday against Chatham, the Whalers offense was on a roll.
“I am really happy with the offensive end of the game right now. Even the outs we were hitting the ball hard,” Maury said.
The Whalers led 5-2 in the fifth inning, but had eight hits compared to one from Chatham. Hull held the Blue Devils in check over seven innings, giving up only one hit and two runs while striking out 11 batters.
Lindsay Fry knocked a two-run single in the sixth inning to break things open for the Whalers.
Jess Guevara was 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored, Reid was 2-for-3 with two RBI and Molly Lentowski hit a two-run triple during a 3-for-5 day at the plate.
Against Cape Tech on Monday, Reid held the Crusaders to only two runs on one hit (a single in the fourth inning). She tossed seven innings in the bitter cold and struck out 12 batters. Reid also helped herself at the plate with a 3-for-3 performance with two walks, a triple, two RBI and five runs scored.
The rest of the Whalers offense chipped in as Nantucket scored 18 runs on 15 hits. Sally Benson was 3-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored. Fry knocked a two-run triple in the third inning and Lentowski nailed a three-run home run in the sixth as the Whalers scored in every inning.
The Whalers traveled to Blue Hills on Thursday and the offense broke out for 13 hits.
Spencer Perry knocked a two-run triple in the second inning to put the Whalers on top 5-1. Nantucket scored three more in the third inning, but a base-running mistake stopped the Whalers from breaking it wide open.
Hull, pitching for the second day in a row, tossed all seven innings, striking out six and walking only three. Blue Hills scattered five singles off the senior pitcher and scored six runs, only three of which were earned. Fry made a leaping catch at shortstop to end the game.
Fry had one hit and two RBI, while Shantel Hanniford, Lentowski and Katie McInerney each had two hits and one RBI. Perry and Reid had two hits each.
In the opening game of the season against Martha’s Vineyard, the rivals held the lead until late in the game. But as Hull dominated on the mound, Guevara led the offensive charge.
“I thought we played very good defense, we looked composed and we looked like we know how to handle a tight ball game. Obviously the first game out, it couldn’t have worked much better. Martha’s Vineyard is a big rival that we haven’t played in three years. To come out on top was a big confidence boost,” Maury said.
The Vineyard had a 2-0 lead on single runs in the third and fourth innings. In the fifth inning the Whalers broke onto the scoreboard. Reid (2-for-3) led off with a single, Grace-Anne Tornovish (2-for-2) moved her to second with a bunt single, and a double steal put runners on second and third with two outs. Guevara then nailed the ball into the right center-field gap.
“It rolled and she has got the wheels to get all the way around,” Maury said.
Hull pitched her way out of trouble to protect the lead in the sixth and seventh innings, when the Vineyard put runners on base.
“I thought Olivia did a great job keeping her composure,” Maury said. “It was a tight ball game. I didn’t think we hit the ball as well as we could have, but we took advantage of what opportunities we got. We bunted well and ran the bases well and that was the difference in the ball game.”
Junior varsity
The junior varsity softball team picked up their first loss of the season against Martha’s Vineyard at home last Wednesday 13-7. The Whalers held the 3-2 lead after two innings, but the Vineyard posted eight runs in the third inning, capitalizing on Nantucket fielding errors to open the big lead.
Two scheduled games against Chatham and Cape Cod Tech were canceled this week due to low numbers of the opposition. The Whalers (1-1) will host a new Sturgis program at home on Thursday and Mashpee on Monday.
“We are very sound athletically. We have to work on all the mental aspects and the fundamentals of softball,” coach Rob Reid said. “We have to continue to just make the routine plays.”
The defense struggled to make those plays against Martha’s Vineyard for only one inning, and responded by scoring five more runs to the rival’s three in the rest of the game.
“I think we got it out of the way because of the way we came back and played in the late innings of the game. They basically came back and won the second half of the game,” head coach Rob Reid said.
Morgan Tornovish pitched the first five innings and allowed only three hits while striking out one. Katie Godlesky closed the door on the Vineyard with two hitless innings and three strikeouts. Godlesky also provided a little offense for the Whalers with a 2-for-3, two RBI performance at the plate.
Jordan Salter and Halie Ciarmataro each had two hits, while Emily Snell (one RBI), Morgan Dugan (one RBI), Ashley Clinger, Chelsea Moore and Tornovish had one hit each. |
