North County Softball Preview: Batting for WMass
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – When you're holding a handful of aces, it's usually pretty fun to play cards.Just ask Drury softball coach Mary Ann Maroni, who has been blessed with a long line of great starting pitchers in recent years. Kate Malloy, Jordan DeGrenier and Hadley Ameen helped hurl the Blue Devils to three Western Massachusetts championships since 2003, including back-to-back titles the past two seasons.
This year, Maroni's challenge will be finding the next pitcher to lead her to the promise land. Will she pull another ace from the deck or will the well finally run dry?
With a talented team full of experience, the starting rotation seems to be the biggest question mark for Drury. DeGrenier led a team of six seniors to the sectional title in 2007, and Ameen followed with an even more impressive campaign last season, pitching lights out to lead a squad chock full of underclassmen to a repeat run.
"Last year was a complete and total surprise," Maroni said. "We had lost a lot of people from the previous year, but these kids dedicated themselves to get back to Western Mass. Hadley had tendonitis but she toughed it out. She threw strikes, kept the hitters off balance and we had an excellent infield."
That recipe for success helped Drury to a 20-4 record and a state semifinal appearance against Hudson, which ended the Devils' season with a 4-0 win. The good news for Maroni is she has two arms she can count on this year as well as the majority of the infield back to supply that great defense again.
Junior Kelsey Malloy is a left-hander who can put a little different spin on the ball, while freshman Lyndsey DeGrenier, Jordan’s younger sister, appears to be ready to pitch at the varsity level. Early indications point to them both being successful in 2009, as both starters have earned wins in helping Drury to a 3-0 start.
Maroni said juniors Jayda Westcott and Tiffany Gundler will also help out on the mound this year as well.
Westcott is also one of the returning infielders, taking back the second base position she earned last year. Malloy will return to first when she's not in the circle. When she does get the start, sophomore Kelsey Ouimet will get the call. Perhaps the most experienced player on the Blue Devils' roster this year is junior shortstop Stephanie Mirante. The three-year starter is a big hitter and a great fielder and is coming off an All-Berkshire season from a year ago.
The loss of Jenna Gazaille, an All-Berkshire selection because of her .300 average and phenomenal defense, at third base will be tough to swallow, but Maroni is hoping senior Megan Boyer can fill her big shoes at the hot corner. Boyer has shown tremendous power as a hitter in her career at Drury but a nagging knee injury has forced her to miss parts of every year she's been on the team. She's healthy again, though, and the move from catcher to third base should help take the stress off of her knee.
Boyer missed the first 10 games of last season before coming back in triumphant fashion to hit the game-winning single in her first at bat to lead her team in 1-0 win over Wahconah.
"She was quite a force from the sidelines," Maroni said of her team captain. "She was one of the first people to get there and one of the last to leave. She had become so consistent about coming to practice and cheering the girls on. She ended up having a good year, and it was so nice to see her win the game in her first at bat.
"That was one of the reasons we were so tough. If she can do what we asked her to do to win, then the rest of the kids that weren't injured had no reason not to perform either."Rounding out the infield for the Blue Devils is sophomore catcher Kait Moresi, who locked down the starting job in her first year with the team. Junior Casey Scott, who is fast both in the field and on the base paths, will return to her center field position, while Gundler, DeGrenier, sophomore Kayla-Brown Wood and senior Angela Ames will all take turns in the other two outfield spots.
Another big hitter could be sophomore Kendra Hinkell, who Maroni said has a big swing but needs to work on her timing still. Add it all up and Maroni thinks she has a team that can compete for another WMass. title.
If they don't get too far ahead of themselves that is.
"We don't want to look to further ahead, but one of their goals is to get back to Western Mass.," she said. "They've been there, they've done it and they like it. But one of the things I reminded them about is the 2004 team. They won WMass and went to the state finals in 2003, but we ended up losing in the first round to Hampshire.
"This team knows they have to work very hard because every team is going to be out to sit them down. If they want bragging rights, they're going to have to earn them."
Mount Greylock
After seeing what a young, inexperienced team did at Drury last season, Mount Greylock head coach Phil Paul is hoping for a similar story for his team in 2009. The Mounties went 12-7 last year, but suffered some serious losses to graduation.
Gone are the power-hitting twins Ally and Lindsay Maynard, as well as consistent performers Joni Hirsch and Ashley Bouchard. All four were at the heart of the Greylock lineup, while Lindsay Maynard and Bouchard split starting pitching duties.Paul's team went from a mixture of veterans and newcomers to very young and unproven squad. Now the Mounties start two eighth-graders, four freshman, one sophomore and two juniors.
Ironically, two of the freshmen provide some of the most experience on the team. Centerfielder Michaela Dinicola is back for her third year in a row and has turned heads with her defense in the field and her ability to get on base out of the leadoff position. Fellow classmate Catie Benoit is also back after earning the starting catcher job as an eighth-grader last year. Her bat should come up huge this season as she hits out of the third slot.
"Those two provide us with two solid leaders and experience," Paul said. "They're the same age as most of the other girls, so I'm counting on them in helping the team along."
Besides junior starters Alex Cunningham (right field) and Johanna Tremblay (second base), the rest of the Greylock squad is made up mostly of underclassmen. Freshman Alyssa Mangiardi will join Cunningham in the outfield, while classmate Autumn Leon will take over at third base. Paul said both Tremblay and Mangiardi have been hitting the ball well so far through the first three games of the season.
Eighth-graders and first-year varsity players such as Margot Besnard and Alexis Bushika will play prominent roles for Greylock this year. Bushika will get most of the starts from the circle, while Besnard will anchor the infield at shortstop. Sophomore Jackie Ferry fills out the starting squad at first base.
So far the Mounties haven't played too bad this year, losing to both Hoosac Valley and Wahconah, with a win against Taconic sandwiched in between.
"It changes from day to day but right now we're having a good time and we're enjoying watching them play," Paul said. "The first game against Hoosac was rough, but we played well against another young team in Taconic and played well in a loss to Wahconah.
"I'm sure we'll improve as the season goes along, and I think we'll surprise a few people down the road."
McCann Tech
Just ask Robin Finnegan and she'll tell you that it's not how you start but how you finish that really matters.
In her first season as the McCann Tech softball coach last year, Finnegan saw her Hornets lose seven straight games out of the gate. McCann rallied back to go 9-4 the rest of the way, however, and that season-ending momentum seems to have carried over into this spring, where the girls in green have started off 3-2."These kids are young and inexperienced," Finnegan said. "We haven't much time in the field and our lack of facilities hurts us, but to get off to a 3-2 start is very promising. I'm very encouraged to see us start this way compared to last year."
Although she has a relatively young team, Finnegan is blessed to have most of her starting lineup back from a year ago. First baseman and slugger Katelyn Soucie and third baseman Erika Andrews are gone to graduation, but the Hornets still have plenty of experience splashed around the infield.
Junior Emily Serrano is a three-year starter and returns to fill the hole at shortstop. She's very steady with the glove and gets the McCann offense going out of the leadoff position. Senior catcher Katelyn Brazeau also returns for her third year behind the plate and can put the ball in play as well. Their combined experience encouraged Finnegan to name them as captains this year.
Junior Sara Simonetti is another returning starter at second base, while sophomore Amanda Cariddi moves in from the outfield to replace Andrews at third. Junior Morgan Kierstead was called up from JV to replace Soucie at first base. Finnegan praised Cariddi and Simonetti for the way they've been hitting the ball through the first three games of the season.
In the middle of the infield will be sophomore pitcher Katelyn Harring. The young hurler pitched every game last year and should be in the circle a majority of the time this season. Her steady improvement should keep the Hornets very competitive this year.
"She pitches strikes," Finnegan said. "You need people that can get it over the plate if you're going to win. If you walk people and hit people, you can't defend that. She's been very consistent, and I think she's improved this year because she's developed a changeup. It throws some batters off."
Right now, Finnegan is exploring a number of options in center field. Last year's starter, sophomore Bryanna Malloy, has been moved to left field, while freshman Jamie Latourneau will get the start in right. Finnegan said another freshman, Cassie Fields, will get the chance to play as the designated hitter from time to time.
Without the hole they dug themselves last year, McCann should have a very good chance to qualify for the Western Mass. tournament this spring.
Hoosac Valley
Another team looking to earn a spot in the playoffs this season is Hoosac Valley. The Hurricanes went 8-12 in Mike Ameen's first year at the helm and have almost a complete roster returning in 2009.
Starting pitcher Chloe McGrath elected not to come out for the team this year, and outfielder Susan Torchia graduated, but other than that, Ameen has all his weapons back from a year ago. The results so far have been promising, as Hoosac has gone 4-3 to start the season. The 'Canes have beaten Mount Greylock, Taconic, Monument Mountain and Lenox and lost to Pioneer, Wahconah and Drury, all of which played in WMass finals last year.
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"We're hitting the ball really well right now," Ameen said. "We've been shutout twice by two very good teams but we really hit well in the other four games. We're a very young but talented team, and I hope we can get better as we go along and be able to compete for a Western Mass. title by the end of the season."McGrath logged a lot of innings for Hoosac in the past two years, but Ameen feels confident he has two starting pitchers that will help his team earn a number of victories this year. Sophomore Amanda Meczywor is not only talented in the circle but also played all over the field while hitting .403 with five home runs to earn All-Berkshire honors as a freshman last year. Classmate Kate Iacuessa is the other starter and will play either in the outfield or at second base when she's not pitching.
Junior catcher Tori Hunt (All-Berkshire) will be in charge of working with the pitching staff. Her experience as a three-year starter should come in handy and her .380 batting average should help out the offense as well. Sophomore Karli Schrade will play first base after starting the last half of the year there last season, while classmate Sam Howe is another returning starter at second base.
Rounding out the infield is senior shortstop Jess Robinson, a veteran and three-year starter at her position, and junior third baseman Haylee Dix, who is hitting .370 so far this season after being called up from JV midway through last year.
Ameen mentioned how well his team has been hitting early on and a lot of that power has come from the outfield. Sophomore left fielder Patrice Dermody has been absolutely killing the ball so far, hitting for the cycle, batting in the .700s and notching 12 RBI already. Senior right fielder Caitlyn Faucher isn't far behind with a .391 average, while senior center fielder Heather Peltier is also a solid hitter and a three-year starter at her position.
Ameen said he also hopes to see utility players such as senior Lauren Carrigan, junior Danielle Clairmont, and freshmen Jessica Gale and Mandi LeBarron contribute as the season goes along.
If Meczywor and Iacuessa can keep throwing strikes and the offense keeps hitting as well as they have been, the Hurricanes should be a team to watch out for in late May.
