By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
Olivia Hull was dominant on the mound in a pair of complete-game victories last week as the softball team picked up two more wins before spring break over South Shore Voke 11-0 Thursday and Ursuline Academy 11-2 Saturday.
The senior ace allowed only two hits in 14 innings of work, while striking out 22 batters and walking only one. Neither of the two runs allowed were earned.
“What goes on in that pitching circle controls a lot of the game. If your pitcher is doing a good job, you are a lot more confident in the game that you have a real good chance to win,” head coach Chris Maury said.
The Whalers improved to 8-1 and are on hiatus until next Thursday when they visit Nauset.
“That is one of the things that kills you about break. You start to get into a little bit of a rhythm and you don’t play for a week and a half,” Maury said.
At home on Saturday, Ursuline got on the board right off the bat in the first inning. Brittany Forgione and Lindsay Connors reached on back-to-back errors to lead off the game. Andrea Crowley drove in Forgione with a ground-out to Lindsay Fry at shortstop. But with Connors sitting on third base, Hull struck out the final two batters of the inning to escape the jam.
“We started off the game with a little bit of nerves, but the inning could have been worse. We gave them the one run, but did a nice job of closing that door so it wouldn’t be a big inning,” Maury said.
“I think that is one of those innings where Olivia carried us. She didn’t get flustered at all and did a nice job of pitching her way out of the inning.”
Hull allowed only one hit, a double in the fifth inning, and two baserunners through the rest of the game. She struck out 11 batters and walked one in seven innings of work.
The Whalers offense got to work immediately. In the bottom of the first, Jess Guevara led off with a double and scored on a ground-out by Kelly Reid to tie the game. Nantucket then added single runs in the second and third innings as Whitney Butler drove in a run on a ground-out to third and Spencer Perry drove in another with a single.
In the fourth inning, Nantucket finally broke it open with four runs. Guevara and Shantel Hanniford reached on back-to-back singles and scored on a triple from Reid. Reid scored on an error to give the Whalers the 7-1 advantage.
The top three batters in the order – Guevara, Hanniford and Reid – were 8-for-11 on the day.
“It is kind of textbook what you are looking for from your order. We get a lot of production from the top of the order,” Maury said.
Against South Shore Voke last Thursday, Hull kept the Vikings in a no-hitter through six and two-thirds innings. She had a perfect game through the sixth inning. She finished the game allowing only one hit, while striking out 11 and walking only one.
Guevara led the offense with a 5-for-5 day at the plate from the leadoff slot. She drove in three runs and scored five times.
“How that first batter does in a game is a huge confidence-booster for everyone else in the game. If you have someone that comes in and starts off the game with a hit, it registers in everyone else’s head that, we can hit this girl,” Maury said.
The Whalers scored three in the first and four in the third to take the early lead. The bench saw some work late in the game as Nantucket coasted to the easy win.
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