Unfortunately, Rebels Softball had an abrupt end to its season in the first round of the tournament. The No.17 Rebels played No. 16 Dighton Rehoboth on Thursday, May 30. This was not a bad game defensively for the Rebels, since there were only a few errors; however, they were unable to put up a fight in the batters box, which ultimately led to their defeat.
Nothing happened in the game until the bottom of the second inning when the Rebels had recorded two outs. Due to an error at second followed by an off target throw, the Rebels could not close out the inning. Because of the error on what would have been their third out, Dighton Rehoboth managed to earn three hits and three runs. Senior pitcher Marissa Ryan said, “We started off strong but our momentum definitely went down as the game progressed because of some errors in the field.”
With only four batters getting up to bat for both teams, the third inning was dominated by routine defense and strong pitching. Ryan had three strike outs and allowed 5 hits during her time on the mound. In the bottom of the fourth though, Dighton Rehoboth started off by earning two singles followed by a player being hit by a pitch. Walpole Head Coach Jim Duffy noticed that the Dighton-Rehoboth batters seemed to be catching up to Ryan’s pitching as they began their third rotation through their lineup. In an attempt to disrupt their offensive flow, Coach Duffy put in junior Stephanie Sem with bases loaded and no outs.
Unfortunately, the switch could not stop Dighton Rehoboth.
With a sacrifice bunt and a single, two runners on base managed to score. Dighton Rehoboth’s starting senior catcher Nicole Lundstrom — who accepted her invitation to the Syracuse softball team in August before her junior year — was their final run across the plate.
The Rebels were down by five runs at this point and they needed a spark in their hitting if they wanted to have a chance at winning the game. The inning started out with a single by junior Casey Songin. This brought the beginning of the order up to bat for the Rebels. Senior Captain Bridget Nicholson was up next and ended up getting walked, leaving runners on first and second. The next two batters got out at first, but they were able to advance the runners and score their first and only run of the game. The next batter hit a fly ball to end the inning.
Ryan said, “We couldn’t get those hits we needed to turn the game around.”
Both teams had a strong defense, seeing as there were two quick 1-2-3 innings, to end the game and lead to a 5-1 Dighton Rehoboth win and an end to the Rebels season.
Senior captain, Lauren Bodin said, “Our record and this game in no way reflected how good of a team we truly were. When we played to our potential we were extremely dangerous, which we proved to both Dedham and Norwood in the second half of the season. ”
Many of these Rebels —who have played together for over 8 years — are not the only ones who have played their last game together. Head Coach Jim Duffy along with Assistant Coaches Paul Quinn and Cliff Richardson will be retiring from coaching. Duffy ended his coaching career with 98 wins. Unfortunately, he could not reach the 100th win that he wanted to achieve this season.
