On Wednesday April 4, Walpole High School Varsity Softball team began their season against Braintree at Braintree High School. Braintree came out with the win.
In Walpole’s first up to bat senior Katie Cavaca made it to first on a drop third strike then advanced to second base on a grounder from junior Lauren Bodin. Katie, on a wild pitch, stole third base. Junior Brittany McGraw got up to plate and ripped a ball into the outfield, sending Katie home and allowing Brittany to reach third base. It was 1-0 with Walpole in the lead.
Walpole took the field with junior Marissa Ryan on the pitching mound. Marissa pitched a low and well placed ball to the second batter. The batter made full contact with the ball, sending it over the fence for a home run, tying up the game at 1-1. Having two strikes outs in the next inning, Marissa was not affected by the home run in the last inning. Marissa said “I felt like the umpire was squeezing my pitches in the strike zone and the other team came ready to hit but other than that i think i did an okay job.”
The bat’s for Walpole were not as alive as the team had wished. For five straight innings Walpole could not get a runner home. Captain Katie Cavaca said “We had many opportunities to take the lead with having bases loaded twice. We just did not get hits when we needed to.” When a Walpole batter had a nice hit it seemed that there was just no one on the bases to advance or bring home.
Walpole had some aggressive base running from juniors Jess Cochrane and Sam McChesney but it was not enough. Coach Duffy said “We need to be more aggressive on the bases like diving and sliding.” Aggressive base runners will keep the other teams on their toes and force them to make the plays on Walpole’s team.
Braintree’s bats were on fire. They scored three runs in the third inning and another two in the fourth and sixth inning. They were able to catch up to the speed of Marissa’s pitches and made clean contact with the ball. Their hits were sneaking through the infield and getting through gaps in the outfield.
In the sixth inning with Walpole’s last up to bat the team was looking for a comeback. Junior Lauren Bodin creamed a ball into right field and with her speed made it home giving Walpole their second run and Lauren a home run. Next up to bat was Sam McChesney who was able to make it to first base. After that, Walpole could not luck out with the bats and the game ended with the final score of 6-2.
Although this game was a loss the team still can learn from it. Junior Bridget Nicholson said “It was only the first game now we know what to work on and improve on and be more prepared for next game.”
