With only one win away from qualifying for a spot in the playoffs, Walpole’s Rebel Softballers headed into a challenging game against Weymouth on Monday May 11.

The Rebels started off strong in the first inning and played excellent defense – the first batter for Weymouth was thrown out at first. Holding them at zero was tough, and by the bottom of the first inning the score was 1-0 Weymouth. It was then Walpole’s turn at bats, the first two batters got out, but lucky number 10, Senior Alyssa Brown, hit a bomb to center field allowing her to advance to second base. Sadly the next batter grounded out ending the inning.

Weymouth must have brought the bats on the Walpole territory because at the top of the second inning Weymouth scored three runs before Walpole managed to get a single out. Walpole got their act together after those three runs and quickly finished the inning. After a motivational speech from Coach Jim Duffy the girls got their bats going. Junior Stephanie Frye led of the inning with a single to center field. Her hopes that her teammates following her in the line up would bring her home quickly died when Weymouth played amazing defense and got three outs in a row.

Coach Duffy then took Sophomore Kelsey Cosby from first base and moved her to catcher. She took the place of Freshman Kate Caveca. Junior Emily Montagno took the position of first in place of Cosby. Junior Sam Cametti was then moved from being the designated hitter to the pitcher position, taking Junior Caroline Crimmins out of the game. After receiving those changes the girls hustled onto the field with all of the hope they had left.

The substitutes fired up the team and made the first two outs easy. Number 12 on the Weymouth team hit a single to short, but Walpole was not going to let them score and threw the next batter out at first, ending the inning. However, the Rebels did not bring their skills from defense to the plate when batting; Weymouth had a one, two, three inning. Walpole pumped up their energy and also had a one, two, three inning. At the top of the fourth Walpole was down by four.

Brown led the Rebels off at the bottom of the fourth and scored. Frye kept the inning going by hitting a triple with only one out. Senior Lauren O’Shea hit a single to center allowing Frye to come home. Montagno then grounded the ball to short stop, causing the third out. In the bottom of the fourth, Weymouth led by two runs, with a score of 4-2. Both teams played tight defense in the 5th and 6th inning, and no one scored. At the top of the 7th inning, Junior Michaela Nee went in for Montagno at first. Nee made the first out of the inning, and Junior Kelly Duffy then followed making a double play for the 2nd and 3rd out of the inning.

Walpole had their last chance to win the game with their final at-bats in the seventh. Walpole did not overcome the deficit however, and Weymouth won the game 4-2.  On Wednesday May 13, the Rebels will get another shot at making the playoffs at their home game versus their rival, Norwood.