Softball Earns First Two Wins In Dominant Weekend

Photography by David Creed

The Whaler softball team had already built a sizable lead on Martha’s Vineyard Saturday, after exploding for 13 early runs. But when senior captain Raegen Perry hit a grand slam to extend their lead midway through the game, the party was officially on.

The Whalers scored 27 runs in their win over Martha’s Vineyard while allowing just two runs. They also picked up a win against the Sandwich Blue Knights on Friday 11-10, a game that became much too close for the liking of head coach Chris Maury.

But in the end, Nantucket came out of the weekend with two wins after failing to win any of their first three games. It was a welcome sight to senior captain Maclaine Willett, who believes her team can ride this momentum moving forward.

“It was such a good feeling to finally get some wins under our belt,” Willett, who is also Nantucket’s ace on the mound, said. “I think it will help with our confidence so much moving forward. It helped with our camaraderie and really pumped up the positivity and energy. I can’t wait for the rest of the season moving forward.”

Stranding base runners has been an issue all season for Nantucket. But against the Vineyard, it seemed like they were knocking in more runners than the bases could fill. It was a welcoming sight for Maury and his team.

Maury still felt good after his team’s win over Sandwich, but was quick to point to where his team faltered towards the end of the game after building a seven run lead that nearly evaporated.

“We played well to a point unfortunately too many boo-boos at the wrong time,” Maury said.

The Whalers allowed an unearned run in the first inning and three unearned runs in the fourth inning. They went into the final inning of play with a 7-4 lead, which seemed safe at the time given the Blue Knights hadn’t been able to plate an earned run.

But the mantra of you can never have too many runs rang true on Friday as Nantucket plated four more in the top of the seventh to extend their lead to 11-4. On its face, it seemed like they wouldn’t be necessary, but in the end, the Whalers needed every run they got to stave off a Sandwich offensive explosion in the bottom of the seventh.

“Thankfully we were able to string those hits together and build that seven run lead,” Maury said. “Sandwich strung together a series of hits. They had a lot of hits that were balls that weren’t hit really solid but were soft bloopers that found some open space. Then we made a couple of mistakes and made it interesting at the end.”

Maury likes the mental makeup his team showed and believes it is something that can help them win close games later on in the season.

“We kept our composure and we were able to get the three outs to get the win,” Maury said. “We feel like everyone in our lineup can hit the ball well. We have some kids in the lineup who normally hit the ball extremely well but just aren’t doing it right now and others are picking up that slack until they can get back to where they generally are.”

The Whalers will travel to Barnstable on Wednesday, May 4, for a game against the Red Hawks at 4 p.m.