By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Mashpee’s Kerri Bergquist collides with catcher Cassie Moran at home plate, jarring the ball loose to earn the safe call on her home run in the first inning. The Whalers lost their first game of the season to the Falcons 16-9.
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Plagued by troubles in the field and spotty offense, the varsity softball team suffered its first loss of the season Monday afternoon in a home game against a powerful Mashpee team, 16-9. It was the first regular season loss for the squad in two seasons.
Also this week, Nantucket swept two easy wins over Provincetown 17-1 on the road Thursday and 14-6 at home Tuesday. The Whalers (6-1) are scheduled to visit South Shore Voke today and will host Ursuline Academy on Saturday.
The Whalers will use the two games before Spring Break to get back on track following the loss to Mashpee.
“For a portion of the game today (against Provincetown) and yesterday (against Mashpee), we lost the focus we had in the first five games and we are going to get back to practice tomorrow to get that back,” head coach Chris Maury said.
Against Provincetown Tuesday, the Whalers scored four runs in the second inning highlighted by a two-run single from Kelly Reid, and then added seven runs on seven hits in the third inning. Shantel Hanniford drove in two runs, while Jess Guevara, Reid and Molly Lentowski plated one run each.
“Today we hit the ball well and played pretty good defense. We made some mistakes on the basepaths. If we hadn’t made the mistakes on the basepaths it would have been a five-inning game,” Maury said.
Three pitchers got in some work on the mound with Grace-Anne Tornovish tossing three innings (five strikeouts, one hit), Reid pitching three innings (four strikeouts, three hits) and Guevara the final inning (two strikeouts, two hits).
The Whalers allowed nine unearned runs in the final two innings of the game in the loss to Mashpee Monday. The Whalers matched the Falcons with 13 hits, but made nine errors in the field.
“We make the plays and we win that ball game. Maybe that’s what we needed. Maybe it was a wake-up call,” Maury said. “We just made too many mistakes. We knew coming in that Mashpee was a good team and we knew that they were a good hitting team. When you are playing a good team, you can’t give them four, five, six outs per inning.”
The Whalers held the early 5-1 lead after posting a four-spot on the board in the second inning. After hitting a home run to put Nantucket on the board in the first inning, Guevara (3-for-5) knocked a double to score two more runs in the second.
But the Whalers managed only two hits over the next three innings as the Falcons staged the comeback. Mashpee scored five times in the fourth and sixth and added four in the seventh. Olivia Hull struck out seven and did not walk a single batter, but Mashpee had runners on in every inning.
The Whalers broke out to score three runs in the bottom of the seventh as Lindsay Fry (2-for-3) had an RBI double and Cassie Moran drove in one with a single.
“It was nice to see us come in the seventh inning, down by 10 and at least go down scrapping,” Maury said. “Offensively, we hit the ball well in the early innings, we hit the ball well in the late innings. We fell asleep in the middle innings.”
Hull had two hits and an RBI and Spencer Perry also had two hits in the game.
Nantucket played a mercy-rule shortened game at Provincetown Friday. The Whalers led 8-0 after four innings and scored nine in the fifth to break it open.
Over the five innings, the Whalers hit the ball well, tallying 14 hits against the Fishermen.
“We saw much slower pitching and we had to be very patient. The fifth inning was an indicator that everyone caught on to the timing and everyone hit the ball well,” Maury said.
Guevara tossed all five innings for Nantucket, allowing only one run on one hit and four walks, while striking out five. The junior pitcher was also 4-for-5 at the plate, including two doubles in the fifth inning. Hanniford and Lentowski each went 3-for-5, while Reid was 2-for-4.
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