Sports Roundup: Four Teams Earn Victories

This Whaler sports roundup includes updates on five teams – four of which earned victories Wednesday and Thursday. The softball team dominated Mashpee on the road, girls lacrosse remains undefeated, girls tennis won their third straight match, sailing earned a win, and the boys tennis team lost a close matchup at home.

Softball Earns Blowout Victory Against Mashpee

The Whaler softball team’s game on Thursday was never in much doubt. Nantucket was on the road facing the Mashpee Falcons and jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the top half of the first inning before going onto win the game 25-5.

Nantucket’s patience at the plate served them well. The Whalers were walked six times in the first inning, and then got some timely hitting including a three-RBI double from Seren Cristler.

Cristler was also on the mound for Nantucket and pitched all five innings (game ended in five due to the mercy rule). Cristler struck out nine batters.

Nantucket built on their strong first inning and rallied for six more runs in the second inning to take a 12-0 lead into the bottom half. Nantucket walked a total of 30 times in the game. They scored five more runs in the third inning and five in the fourth to make it 22-3 entering the fifth.

They sealed the game with three more runs in the fifth inning with some of their bench players getting a chance to get at-bats. While the Falcons added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, it was nowhere close to being enough to avoid the game ending early due to the mercy rule.

Nantucket is now 2-3 and they will be in action again on Saturday, April 27 when they travel to face Atlantis Charter School at 11 a.m.

Girls Lacrosse Remains Undefeated

Another game, another win for the Nantucket girls lacrosse team, who remain red-hot to begin their season following a 17-5 victory over Cape Cod Academy Thursday afternoon.

The Whalers have not only beaten each of their first seven opponents this season – they have dominated along the way. Nantucket has outscored the opposition 118-38 so far and have only had one game where they did not win by 10 or more goals (20-13 win over Boston Latin Academy on April 6).

Bailey Lower and Emerson Pekarcik – Nantucket’s two superstars who will be playing Div. 1 lacrosse at the next level come this time next year – continue to lead the offense and were excellent on Thursday.

Lower finished with eight goals and three assists while Pekarcik scored five goals and four assists. Senior attacker Cydney Mosscrop also contributed with two goals and three assists. Dylan Damian and Mayson Lower each scored one goal.

Nantucket head coach Jami Lower said her team played “calm, smart, and together” and that everyone on the team contributed. She noted the performances of Maddie Lombardi and Evy Stahl as sticking out.

The Whalers next game is scheduled for Saturday, April 27 at 12 p.m. on the road against Dennis-Yarmouth.

Girls Tennis Wins Third Straight Match

The girls tennis team won their third straight match on Wednesday. They were on the road facing Cape Cod Academy and won 3-2.

Lily Chibnik was the lone singles player to sail home with a victory – winning her match in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.

“I had good powerful backhands and volleys,” Chibnik said in her match report after the game. “I need to work on making less unforced errors and more power on my serves. My opponent hit the ball high and deep, so I needed to backup far to not hit the ball back high. She was consistent but made many errors on her forehand. I made sure to hit the ball crosscourt and make her run with short balls. Overall, the match went very well.”

The doubles teams performed well for the Whalers. Chloe Marrero and Hannah Gerardi made up the first doubles pairing and won in straight sets 7-5, 6-4.

“I think we communicated well together and we were able to change up our game plan as the match went on,” Gerardi said after the match. “Chloe had really good volleys and serve returns. I think I did pretty well on my deep shots. I would like to improve on my volleys and Chloe said she would like to work on her deep shot returns.”

The second doubles pairing of Fiona Keltz and Sara Dussault also won their match in straight sets 7-5, 6-4.

“I feel like we (played) very well,” Dussault said. “This was (our) first time playing together. We made sure that we would talk to each other during and after each point. Fiona had great ground strokes and she was making the other team play the point. Something she thinks she needs to work on is her services. My strengths in the match was my volleys and my services.”

The Whalers will attempt to improve their record to 4-1 when they host St. John Paul II on Friday, April 26 at 4 p.m.

Boys Tennis Loses 3-2 To Cape Cod Academy

The Nantucket boys tennis team lost their first match of the season Wednesday afternoon to Cape Cod Academy 3-2 at home.

One notable performance was that of senior Sam Iller, who slid into the #3 singles spot with Nik Krastev unavailable. Iller won the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.

"He figured out how to beat the guy,” Whaler head coach David Cheever said. “We had the little talk (in between sets) and he did exactly that.”

Fuller Holland and Forbes Keating continued their strong play together as the Whaler’s second doubles pairing – winning their match in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.

“The second doubles rolled,” Cheever said. “(Forbes) is 36-1 (in his career).”

Nantucket will try to get back in the win column when they travel to play St. John Paul II on Friday, April 26 at 4 p.m. Photo below by Chris Tran.

Sailing Beats Dartmouth 3-1

The Nantucket sailing team went into their Thursday afternoon regatta against Dartmouth anxious to get the bad taste out of their mouth from their Tuesday meet against Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod Academy where they lost all of their races. They were able to do that on Thursday with a 3-1 win over Dartmouth.

The team is now 3-2 this season and in particularly noted that the performances of Clementine Kelly and Sadie Paterson have been impressive.

Their next regatta is a pair of non-league matchups scheduled for Saturday, April 27 against Buckingham Browne & Nichols Private School and Fairfield Ludlowe High School.

SCHEDULE AHEAD:

Friday, April 26:

The girls tennis team will be at home facing St. John Paul II at 4 p.m.

The boys tennis team will be on the road facing SJP at 4 p.m.

The baseball team will be on the road facing Monomoy at 4 p.m.

Saturday, April 27:

The girls tennis team will be at home facing Martha's Vineyard at 11:30 p.m.

The softball team will be on the road facing Atlantis Charter School at 11 a.m.

The girls lacrosse teams will be on the road facing Dennis-Yarmouth at 12 p.m.

The boys tennis team will be on the road facing Martha's Vineyard at 12:30 p.m.

The baseball team will be on the road facing Carver at 1:30 p.m.,

The boys lacrosse team will be on the road facing Bishop Stang at 2 p.m.

Sunday, April 28:

There are no games scheduled for Sunday at this time.

For more coverage of all the Nantucket spring sports teams, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or X (Twitter). You can follow photographer Chris Tran by clicking here.