Category Archives: Pentucket

June 3, 2022 · 8:40 pm

Pentucket wins tourney opener 16-1 over O’Bryant

Molly LeBel had a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts

Meghan Hamel scores Pentucket’s 11th run of the first inning

(Groveland) Molly LeBel was unhittable and her teammates had hits throughout the lineup.

Molly faced eighteen Tigers and struck out sixteen including the last eleven straight. The talented freshman reached 200 strikeouts for the season today.

Pentucket overwhelmed O’Bryant, 16-1, in a D3 Preliminary Round game that ended after 4 ½ innings.

“That was my best game yet,” said Molly after learning of the numbers she had put up.

“I realized early on that they weren’t catching up to the speed,” added Molly, “so I was just throwing straight down the middle.”

“She was a wonderful pitcher,” said O’Bryant coach Bridget Ryan post-game. The team from Roxbury and the Boston City League struggled to make contact most of the afternoon.

The Tigers manufactured a run in their first at-bats. Freshman Rylee Hamblin scored the O’Bryant run. Rylee walked, stole second, and reached third on a throwing error. She came home on a wild pitch.

Coach Bridget Ryan and Rylee Hamblin at third base in the first inning

Down 1-0, the Panthers (12-9) put on a hitting show in their half of the first inning. They sent sixteen batters to the plate, hit three doubles and four singles, and scored eleven runs.

Kendra Griffin and Bailey Stock each drove across two runs in the game-deciding starting inning.

“Everyone hit the ball really hard today,” said Pentucket coach Deb Smith afterwards. “There were very few grounders.”

There were only two O’Bryant errors so almost all the runs were earned.

Pentucket added three more in the second. Jocelyn Bickford had a two-run single while senior Emma Lopata put a scare into the visitors to the dog park beyond left field.

“I hit another homer earlier in the season to the same spot,” recalled Emma. “This time, however, I think I hit a dog out there which wasn’t so good.”

Emma Lopata welcomed at home after a homer

Emma was back in the third inning with an RBI single while teammate Kayla Murphy scored Emma with a double in that same inning.

“We were missing three starters,” said Coach Ryan afterwards. “They were on a field trip, so I had to put a lot of kids in different positions. Pentucket, however, is a very good team.”

The Panthers advance to the next round on Tuesday (4PM) against Arlington Catholic. I strongly suspect that #26 Pentucket will find #7 AC a bigger challenge than #39 O’Bryant was today.

The big adjustment for Pentucket in this game was replacing play-every-inning catcher Ella Agocs. Freshman Jocelyn Bickford was given the assignment.

“Jocelyn did amazing,” said pitcher Molly LeBel. “It was her first time behind the plate. I was very impressed with her.”

Jocelyn loved the next assignment. “I had never done it before,” she said. “It was so much fun. You get a nice perspective of the game back there.”

“Both Molly and Jocelyn were awesome,” said Coach Smith.

Kayla Murphy (3 hits), Nikki Mitchell (3 runs), and Jocelyn Bickford (3 RBI) had the top stats for Pentucket.

The weather continues to prevent anyone from putting away the cold-weather gear. Felt like an April game to me.

Nice to have players introduced and the National Anthem played.

O’Bryant 1 0 0 0 0 = 1

Pentucket 11 3 2 0 – = 16

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Filed under O'Bryant, Pentucket

Tagged as Coach Bridget Ryan, Coach Deb Smith, Jocelyn Bickford, Kayla Murphy, Molly LeBel, Rylee Hamblin

May 25, 2022 · 10:13 pm

Kayla Murphy hits two homers as Pentucket defeats Newburyport 7-5

(Groveland) Home plate was where the action was.

Both Newburyport and Pentucket had runners thrown out there.

The biggest celebrating there, however, was done by Pentucket as they gathered twice to congratulate Kayla Murphy after home runs.

Pentucket (9-8) held on to get a 7-5 win over Newburyport (9-11) on Wednesday afternoon.

The Clippers took a 2-1 lead into the fourth inning.

In that fourth inning, Emma Lopata walked ahead of Kayla’s first home run to put the Panthers (their new mascot) in front for good.

Pentucket added another run in the fifth inning on an infield throwing error, before Kayla went deep again this time with Sydney Pichette and Kendra Griffin on board.

Kayla joked that she “wasn’t trying to get any of the dogs in the dog park,” (located just beyond the leftfield fence).

Emily Meleedy had eleven strikeouts for Newburyport

Both of Kayla’s homers landed in about the same spot in left center. “I was looking for my pitch,” she said. “The home run pitches were low in the strike zone.”

Sitting on a 7-2 lead going into the last inning seemed to be a comfortable situation for Pentucket. After pitcher Molly LeBel retired the first two batters, things looked even more promising.

Credit Newburyport. They weren’t planning to go quietly. Five batters later the Clippers had the tying runs on the bases and the go-ahead run at the plate.

After an error on her first fielding chance of the inning, shortstop Kyla Murphy got a second chance and retired the last batter on an infield grounder.

“I was hoping for one good play at the end, and I got it,” said Kayla afterwards.

“Everyone did their job,” said Pentucket coach Deb Smith, “and Kayla crushed it.”

One thing that Coach Smith didn’t want to do was pitch to Newburyport’s Emily Meleedy. Twice the talented sophomore received intentional passes.

“She’s in the middle of the Merrimack (River) if you pitch to her every time,” said Coach Smith.

A key play occurred in the fifth inning. Newburyport had runners on second and third with two out. Emily Meleedy was at the plate. Pentucket opted to intentionally walk her which would load the bases. However, Molly LeBel’s attempt to finish off the intentional pass got beyond Pentucket catcher Ella Agocs. Olivia Skibbee, who was on third base, broke for home but Ella’s flip to Molly covering home erased the runner and ended the inning.

Olivia Skibbee tagged out by Molly LeBel

“That play was a turning point in this game,” said Coach Smith.

Newburyport coach Bob Gillespie was disappointed with the loss. “We have been making it a habit of needing comebacks after slow starts,” he said.

“We have also struggled to win on the road,” he added. The Clippers are now 2-7 away from home.

The Panthers are currently 7-1 at home.

The Clippers end the regular season 9-11. The May 23^rd Power Rankings for Division 3 had them at #21. The top thirty-two get in the tournament. You also get in if you win at least half your games.

Pentucket is now at 9-8 with three games left. If they can win one of those games they’ll be in the tournament. As of May 23^rd, they are ranked #30 in Division 3.

Molly LeBel: “Even when things got tough in the last inning, I knew that the team had my back. They have a lot of good hitters so mixing up my pitches was crucial. I was throwing as hard as I could today. I always try to do that but today I was actually doing it.” Molly gave up seven hits and struck out four batters.

Emily Meleedy struck out eleven but also gave up eleven hits. “She is an unbelievable pitcher,” said Coach Smith. “You have to go after her first pitch. We told them to be aggressive today and we hit the ball hard.”

“The ending was shaky,” Coach Smith added, “but that seems to be our MO. They want to give me a heart attack!”

Sophie Lavallee and Emily Meleedy paced Newburyport with two hits each. Cassidy Bolcome and Emily each scored twice.

Kendra Griffin led Pentucket with three hits while Emma Lopata scored three times.

Newburyport centerfielder Nieve Morrissey made two nice catches in Pentucket’s sixth inning. She ran in for one and raced back for the other.

Newburyport 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 = 5

Pentucket 0 1 0 2 4 0 – = 7

On April 28^th Newburyport defeated Pentucket, 9-5 at Newburyport. The Clippers built up an 8-0 lead after four innings before Pentucket rallied late to make things interesting at the end.

The Panthers have won three straight.

I continue to misread the weather. It was sunny and pleasant.

Kayla Murphy celebrates with her teammates

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Filed under Newburyport, Pentucket

Tagged as Coach Deb Smith, Emily Meleedy, Emma Lopata, Kayla Murphy, Nieve Morrissey, Sophia Lavallee

May 23, 2022 · 8:57 pm

Pentucket rallies by Haverhill 15-6

Lana Mickelson (4 goals and six assists)

Alex Bushey had three goals for Haverhill

(West Newbury) The slow start didn’t bother Pentucket.

“We seem to start slow regularly and then get rolling,” explained Pentucket coach Angela Palmer afterwards.

Rolling is what they did. Down 2-0 to non-league Haverhill, Pentucket responded with eleven straight goals to gain separation.

The final score was 15-6.

A Senior Day celebration followed the Pentucket win.

Senior Lana Mickelson (Iona commit) showed that she can score (four goals) and that she can set up teammates (six assists).

“Pentucket played well together,” said Haverhill coach Erik Perkins post-game. “There was lots of team ball with cuts. Our girls had trouble picking up on it.”

“Lana never seems to run out of energy,” said Coach Palmer. “She is an excellent passer. We tell the team that assists are just as many points as goals are.”

Pentucket had thirteen assists on the fifteen goals they scored.

Sophomore Alex Bushey got the Hillies (7-7) off to a great start with two goals in the opening 2 ½ minutes.

Lana had a hand in the Pentucket response reaching the scoresheet on six of the next seven goals. Two were her own while on the other four she set up teammates Ella Palmer, Kate Conover, Cat Colvin, and Sydney Trout.

Pentucket (8-4) led 11-3 at the half.

Kate Conover and Sarah Graninger boosted the Pentucket advantage to 13-3 five minutes into the second half.

Plenty of substituting followed.

“The weather could have been a factor in how we played,” said Coach Perkins. “Pentucket wanted it more today.”

The two teams will meet again in a week at Haverhill.

“We have four games left and a chance to win a conference (Merrimack Valley Conference) championship,” said Coach Perkins. “We also want to get a tournament bid. Haverhill is currently ranked #33 in Division 1 in the MIAA Power Rankings.

Pentucket is ranked #7 in Division 3.

Pentucket has now won four straight games. They had one-goal losses to both Ipswich and Manchester-Essex before the win-streak.

Seniors Jocelyn Alcantara, Gabby Cloutier, Charlene Basque, Lana Mickelson

Haverhill’s 2-14 record last year may not seem like much, but it was the most wins they have had since 2016. That’s why this season with seven wins and counting is very special to the Hillies.

This was the first Pipestave game for me. Getting to-and-from the field was more exercise than I’ve had in a while!

Pentucket 11 4 = 15

Haverhill 3 3 = 6

Goal scorers:

Pentucket – Lana Michelson (4), Kate Conover (3), Cat Colvin (3), Sarah Graninger (2), Audrey Conover (1), Ella Palmer (1), Sydney Trout (1).

Haverhill – Alex Bushey (3), Sophia Riley (1), Cailey Simard (1), Katrina Savvas (1).

Pentucket’s Lana Mickelson had six assists and Kate Conover had five assists. Ella Palmer and Cat Colvin had one assist each.

Coach Palmer: “We worked hard in practice leading up to this game. We worked on slides and shooting under pressure. I think it paid off today.”

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Filed under Haverhill, Pentucket

Tagged as Alex Bushey, Coach Angela Palmer, Coach Erik Perkins, Lana Mickelson

May 11, 2022 · 10:08 pm

Amesbury routs Pentucket 21-0

Alana DeLisle had four hits and struck out twelve

(Amesbury) The numbers are mind boggling!

Amesbury (12-0) has now scored 158 runs and given up 3 runs.

This afternoon they mercy-ruled Pentucket, 21-0.

Pentucket, which is now 6-7, had been in every game until today.

“They are obviously an unbelievable team,” said Pentucket coach Deb Smith afterwards. “They hit 1-9. We’re never going to face a team like this again.”

Today was Senior Day for Amesbury’s four seniors: Liv DeLong, Alana DeLisle, Olivia Levasseur, and Ella Bezanson.

“I started watching them when they were eighth graders on our freshman team,” recalled Amesbury coach Jacqui Waters. “They are all great players.”

There will be next-level softball for all four of them. Liv will be at Boston University while the other three are headed for Southern Maine.

“We’ve been together since third grade,” said Liv. “Senior Day is a bit sad but we’re all going on to play some more. We’ll leave behind a lot of memories, though.”

In this game, all the Amesbury players had at least one hit and scored at least one run. Eight players in the lineup had RBI.

“We hit the ball hard,” said Coach Waters.

Amesbury sent eleven batters to the plate in the first inning and collected six runs on seven hits.

Amesbury’s most productive inning was the third in which fifteen batters came up and totaled nine runs on ten hits.

“We were hitting the gaps today,” said Ella Bezanson. There were nine extra-base hits.

The most celebrated hit for Amesbury was in the fourth inning when Olivia Levasseur cleared the fence in left.

“It’s exciting running the bases and seeing the crowd at home plate,” said Olivia. “It was like a dream come true.”

“I knew it was gone because I hit it a certain way,” she added. This was Olivia’s second home run of the season.

Easily lost in all the hitting, was the effective pitching of Alana DeLisle.

The game was over after Pentucket batted in the fifth inning but Alana had enough time to record twelve strikeouts.

“I threw some curves today,” said Alana. “I did what Ella (her sister, the catcher) told me to do.” Alana also made a nice diving catch of a short popup between the mound and home plate.

Pentucket did get two hits off Alana. Nikki Mitchell lined a single to center in the first inning while teammate Meg Hamel singled sharply to left in the fourth inning.

Ella Bezanson paced Amesbury scoring four times. Alana DeLisle led Amesbury with four hits (three doubles and a single). Olivia Levasseur was tops in RBI with five.

“We’re moving on,” said Coach Smith. “We’ll put this game behind us.”

A food truck was available as part of the post-game Senior Day festivities. I’ll admit I was tempted.

I was badly fooled by the weather. I have had straight days requiring multi-layers. Today it was sunny with no wind. It felt good!

Pentucket 0 0 0 0 0 = 0

Amesbury 6 2 9 4 – = 21

(The pictures will enlarge.)

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Filed under Amesbury, Pentucket

Tagged as Alana Delisle, Ella Bezanson, Liv DeLong

May 9, 2022 · 10:33 pm

Meg Hamel’s two homers lead Pentucket to 17-1 win over Saugus

Meg Hamel went deep twice against Saugus

Kendra Griffin had three hits and scored four times

(Groveland) You’re there at the Groveland Pines dog park to watch your dog get some exercise.

Today that watching also needed to include incoming softballs.

Especially when #15 was batting.

Twice today Pentucket’s Meg Hamel cleared the leftfield fence. The second shot was a grand slam.

Pentucket routed Saugus, 17-1.

Who saw this coming?

Two weeks ago, the teams met in Saugus and the home team won, 9-8.

Coach Deb Smith and Coach Steve Almquist

“Talk about night and day,” said Saugus coach Steve Almquist afterwards. “They hit the ball all day and we couldn’t make any plays.”

“The last time we played there were a lot of errors, and we didn’t string hits together,” recalled Pentucket coach Deb Smith.

Neither one of those was a problem today for the home team at Groveland Pines.

Pentucket had fifteen hits in the four innings they batted.

“We’re on a roll with our hits,” said Coach Smith. “We’re hitting the ball hard now.”

In the Pentucket first, the first two batters reached and Nikki Mitchell singled them home. Meg Hamel then launched the first of her home runs. Instantly, it was, 4-0.

The Sachems (6-5) got a run back in the second. A throwing error and several wild pitches allowed Devany Millerick (who had singled) to score for Saugus.

A two-out infield error enabled Kendra Griffin to get the run back in the second inning. Kendra eventually scored four times and had three hits in the game.

Two weeks ago, Saugus spotted Pentucket four runs early and then rallied to take the lead for good.

Not today.

Pentucket (6-6) blew open the 5-1 game in the 4^th inning. Sixteen batters went to the plate and Pentucket collected twelve runs on eight hits.

Saugus hurt themselves defensively with three errors in the disastrous inning.

The visitors were also unlucky. A Pentucket batter reached after striking out. In another situation, Saugus had their infield in with the bases loaded and a popup fell in just where they would normally have been positioned. It just wasn’t their day!

3B Emma Lopata handles an infield chance

“They gave us extra outs and we took advantage,” said Coach Smith.

Meg Hamel had homered in the first, struck out in the second, and struck out the first time she batted in the 4^th inning. On the senior’s second at-bat in the 4^th inning she again went deep, this time with the bases loaded.

“It felt really good to get them,” Meg said afterwards.

“Meg Hamel was awesome today,” said Coach Smith. “I loved that. She works so hard. I’m so happy for her.”

Nikki Mitchell scored three times and had three RBI

Lost in all the Pentucket offense was the three-hit pitching of Molly LeBel. Molly held the Sachems hitless in the final two innings. She also had nine strikeouts in the game.

“We didn’t do much right today,” said Coach Almquist. “Pentucket is a very good team. We’re going to try and get them back on our schedule next year.”

Felicia Reppucci, Fallon Millerick, and Devany Millerick had the hits for Saugus.

Nikki Mitchell had two hits, three RBI, and scored three times for Pentucket.

Kayla Murphy had a solid game at short and scored three times.

The wind today was persistent often stirring up dust.

Saugus 0 1 0 0 0 = 1

Pentucket 4 1 0 12 – = 17

(The pictures will enlarge.)

Saugus pitcher Fallon Millerick sets to throw to first base

Meg Hamel surrounded after two-run homer in the first inning.

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Tagged as Coach Deb Smith, Coach Steve Almquist, Devancy Millerick, Kayla Murphy, Kendra Griffin, Meg Hamel, Nikki Mitchell

May 6, 2022 · 10:31 pm

Solid pitching/hitting leads Pentucket to 11-1 win over Ipswich

Molly LeBel gave up two hits and struck out fourteen

(Groveland) “It all got put together today,” said Pentucket pitcher Molly LeBel.

Molly sure did her part, allowing only two singles and striking out fourteen.

The Pentucket bats and defense were equally good in their 11-1 win over Ipswich at Groveland Pines on Friday afternoon.

Pentucket (5-5) had hits and runs in every inning and were flawless in the field.

Molly LeBel came into the game with her eye on reaching 100 strikeouts for the season.

“I set a goal for myself to get there today,” she said. “I needed seven.”

Molly reaches her 7^th at the end of a run of six straight strikeouts 2/3 of the way into the third inning.

“We faced a really good pitcher today,” said Ipswich coach Paul James afterwards. “She threw hard, and she got ahead of us.”

Pentucket had twelve hits and they were spread out throughout the game.

“We’re doing a much better job of coming out strong, of figuring out the pitcher right away,” said Pentucket coach Deb Smith.

Three batters into the first inning, the home team had two runs. Kendra Griffin had a bunt single, Kayla Murphy tripled, and Nikki Mitchell had a fielder’s choice to get Pentucket off to a great start.

Seven different players had hits in the game for Pentucket. Six different players scored runs and six different players had RBI.

“Everyone did their job,” said Emma Lopata post-game. “We had a lot of big hits.”

Emma had the best stats with three hits, three runs, and three RBI.

One of Emma’s hits cleared the fence in left in the second inning and landed in the dog park.

“That was the first home run I’ve ever hit at any level,” she said.

She did add with a laugh that, “if the homer had hit a dog she would have felt badly.”

Sydney Pichette had a two-run double in the third and Emma had a two-run double in the fourth inning as Pentucket sent up nine batters and scored four runs.

By the end of the fourth inning Pentucket led, 9-0.

Molly went 4 2/3 innings without allowing a hit. Annabel Morris broke up the no-hitter with a grounder to deep short. Lexi James followed with another single and Alexa Eliopoulos (who had reached on a dropped third strike) came in to score for the Tigers (3-5).

Molly retired seven straight batters after that to emerge with an 11-1 win.

Pentucket is now 5-5.

“We didn’t quit today,” said Coach James. “We’re getting better. Tomorrow, we play Whittier.”

Freshman Kayla Murphy had two triples and scored three runs.

Sophomore Julia Connelly scored twice as a pinch-runner.

Bailey Stock and Sydney Pichette both had two hits for Pentucket.

Ipswich starter Annabel Morris pitched her way out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning.

Molly only walked two batters. “She was steady today,” said Coach Smith.

The weather worked for me today, cloudy with temps in the 60’s.

Ipswich 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 = 1

Pentucket 2 1 2 4 1 1 – = 11

(The pictures will enlarge.)

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Filed under Ipswich, Pentucket

Tagged as Annabel Morris, Coach Deb Smith, Coach Paul James, Emma Lopata, Kayla Murphy, Lexi James, Molly LeBel

May 5, 2022 · 10:15 pm

Vaughn O’Leary tosses 2-hitter as Manchester-Essex shuts out Pentucket 4-0

Colin Coyne scores the first Hornets run

Ethan Hunt had 12 K’s in six innings of relief

(Groveland) The two runs that Manchester-Essex put up in the first inning didn’t seem like too much at the time.

But then the pitching of Hornets starter Vaughn O’Leary kicked in and those runs grew in size as the innings rolled by.

Manchester-Essex defeated Pentucket, 4-0, on Thursday afternoon at Groveland Pines.

Vaughn finished with a two-hitter and collected eleven strikeouts.

“The umpire was giving me the outside corner and I was able to command all my pitches,” said Vaughn afterwards. “I know I’m on when I can start with off-speed pitches against 3-4-5 hitters.”

“I give their pitcher a lot of credit,” said Pentucket coach Kevin Murray. “He didn’t throw many balls. He came right at our hitters and attacked us all game. He lived on the outside and we didn’t do a great job of adjusting to that.”

A walk (Colin Coyne), and a double (Ryan Andrews) were followed by a wild pitch and a fielder’s choice. The result was a two-run first inning for the visitors.

“Obviously, getting two runs in the first helped us a lot,” said Hornets coach James Weed post-game. “It puts pressure on the other team.”

Coach Murray brought on Ethan Hunt to pitch in the second inning. The UMass Boston commit struck out twelve Hornets over the next six inning of relief.

“Ethan pitched very well,” said Coach Murray. “Even during the inning with the runs, the hits weren’t hit that hard.”

Pentucket’s best chance to get back in the game was in the third inning. An infield error and a Max Ligols’ single put two runners on with no outs. Vaughn then struck out the next three batters to end the threat and the inning.

Manchester-Essex (6-3) added two more runs in the sixth inning. The Hornets had two hits early in the inning (Ryan Andrews, Henry Otterbein) and two hits later on (Mike D’Oreo, Zak Porat) to drive in the runs.

Pentucket (5-5) got two runners on with two outs in their half of the sixth inning, but Vaughn ended the threat by getting Chase Dwight to fly out deep to center.

Vaughn O’Leary: “I couldn’t have done it without my defense. We could have lost this game if they hadn’t made plays.”

Coach Weed: “This team reminds me of the 2019 state champion team. They’re not as talented but they’re proving a lot of doubters wrong. They’re hitting as well as the 2019 team. They’re fun to coach. They play with energy.”

Kyle Ventola and Max Ligols had Pentucket’s two hits.

Ryan Andrews and Mike D’Oreo each had two hits for Manchester-Essex.-

The weather was perfect. Not too hot. Not too cold with sunshine.

Manchester-Essex 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 = 4

Pentucket 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0

(The pictures will enlarge.)

2B Justin Majka waits to tag Colby Doane

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Tagged as Coach James Weed, Coach Kevin Murray, Ethan Hunt, Vaughn O'Leary

May 3, 2022 · 10:16 pm

Pentucket plays ‘best game’ shutting out Newburyport 3-0

Max Ligols had a two-run homer for Pentucket

(Groveland) “It was absolutely our best game of the year,” said Pentucket coach Kevin Murray afterwards.

Pentucket defeated Newburyport, 3-0, on Tuesday afternoon at Groveland Pines.

Chase Dwight pitched a 3-hitter. Max Ligols had a 2-run homer and the Pentucket defense was error-free.

“You have to tip your cap to them (Pentucket),” said Newburyport coach Mark Rowe. “They got the big hits when they needed to, and Chase (Dwight) pitched a great game. He threw strikes and if you do that in this league good things are going to happen.”

The biggest hit was by Pentucket’s Max Ligols. The UMF commit had two strikes on him in the fourth inning before clearing the leftfield fence.

“I was down on the count,” recalled Max. “He threw me a first-pitch curve and then came back with it. I just stayed behind and let loose on it. It was the first homer I’ve ever hit. I didn’t even have one in Little League! It sure felt good.”

Max’s homer brought home teammate James Davis who had a long-count single leading off in that fourth inning.

“No one was an easy out today,” said Coach Murray. “We didn’t have any first-pitch outs and we battled back from 0-2 counts.”

Pentucket collected an unearned run in the previous inning. Trevor Kamuda reached on an infield error, stole second and took third on a fielder’s choice. Chase Dwight’s two-out double brought Trevor home.

Newburyport’s best chance to get run(s) was in the fourth inning. The Clippers loaded the bases with one out. A walk (Lucas Stallard), a double (Owen Tahnk) and an intentional walk (Jack Fehlner) put Newburyport in a good spot. But Pentucket escaped as Chase caught Brady Ford looking and handled Tyler Cowles’ grounder to end the threat.

Pentucket answered with the Max Ligol homer in the bottom half of the fourth and had a 3-0 lead.

Chase retired nine of the last ten batters he faced to earn the win for Pentucket.

“My fastball was my best pitch today,” said Chase afterwards. “I had good location.”

“Our energy was high throughout the game,” he added. “We hit when we needed to. Whenever Newburyport did hit, my teammates were there making the plays.”

Chase told me that he will be attending Mass Maritime Academy in the fall. “I may go out for baseball,” he said. “You have to try out for the team, so we’ll see what happens there.”

The Clippers (8-3) came into today’s game averaging 6.9 runs per game. “We hit a lot of balls hard today but right at people,” said Coach Rowe.

Pentucket (5-4) finished with six hits. Max and Chase had two each. Ethan Hunt and James Davis had the other two hits.

The Clippers had hits from Owen Tahnk, Jack Fehlner, and Connor Stick.

Alex Robertson was solid for Pentucket at first base handling nine chances that included several low throws. “Alex had some nice picks,” said Trevor Kamuda post-game.

Prior to this afternoon’s game, Pentucket had won three straight, before losing to Lynnfield last game.

The Clippers entered today’s game having won seven straight. Last loss was on April 11^th to Amesbury, until this afternoon.

The weather was comfortably warm at the start and then became much cooler later.

Newburyport 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0

Pentucket 0 0 1 2 0 0 – = 3

(The pictures will enlarge.)

James Davis heads for third base in the fourth inning

Chase Dwight had an RBI double in the third inning

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Filed under Newburyport, Pentucket

Tagged as Chase Dwight, Coach Kevin Murray, Max Ligols

May 2, 2022 · 11:08 pm

Pentucket get six to get 7-6 walkoff win vs Notre Dame

(Groveland) “That pitch was just right, that’s all I can say,” said an excited Nikki Mitchell afterwards.

Nikki laced a two-strike, two-out double to right that drove across the game-winner for Pentucket.

“It was amazing,” Nikki said. “I am so happy. I knew we could do it.”

Notre Dame Academy took the hard-luck 7-6 loss on Monday afternoon.

The Lancers (6-3) carried a 6-1 lead into the Pentucket seventh. Lancers’ starter Carly Smith entered the inning with seven strikeouts and no walks. The home team only had two hits.

Lexi Martineau had three hits and scored three runs

There was little reason to think that things would change so drastically in the final half inning.

But change they.

“We’ve been in every game so far and we don’t give up,” said Pentucket coach Deb Smith afterwards.

Nikki Mitchell started the inning with a walk and ended the inning with a walkoff double.

Pentucket got four walks in the inning and benefitted from a high throw to the plate that scored a run.

The excitement grew as the inning unfolded.

After Carly Smith registered her eighth strikeout, Pentucket was down to its final out and trailed 6-4. They did, however, have two runners on and Kayla Murphy batting. Kayla had struck out twice but this time, down to her last strike, she found the gap in right-center and tied the game.

After an intentional walk to Meghan Hamel, it was Nikki Mitchell’s turn. Nikki had collected Pentucket’s first hit in fifth inning. Nikki, like Kayla, got two strikes on her before hitting a ball over the rightfielder’s head which easily scored Kayla with the game-winner.

The team immediately mobbed Kayla after she scored while Nikki stood at second base. “I was a little surprised by that,” laughed Nikki. Shortly thereafter, however, the team got it walkoff celebration corrected and descended on Nikki.

“Kayla and Nikki with two strikes on them got the job done for us,” said Coach Deb Smith.

“It was a tough loss,” said NDA coach Fred Smith. “At the end there were a couple of walks by us and a couple of big hits by them.”

“We were on the other end of a game like this against Whittier on Friday,” he added.

“We’ve been working so hard as a team,” said Coach Deb Smith. “Everyone did their job today. It was a total team effort.”

Lexi Martineau paced the Lancers with three of their five hits. She scored three runs and drove in two.

Lexi’s first hit drove in two runs in the 3-run NDA third inning.

Two walks, two hits, and two wild pitches gave the Lancers two more runs in the fifth inning.

Meanwhile NDA’s Carly Smith retired twelve straight batters before Pentucket put a hit batsman and two singles together to load the bases. Emma Lopata drove in Pentucket’s first run with a fielder’s choice.

NDA got the run back with a hit and three straight walks in the top of the seventh inning to make the score 6-1.

A key play in that NDA seventh inning was an attempt to steal home that turned into the final out of the inning. There had been three straight walks.

And that set the stage for Pentucket’s ten-batter, six-run, final inning.

The weather was unpleasant. You really have to dress for winter!

Notre Dame 0 0 3 0 2 0 1 = 6

Pentucket 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 = 7

(The pictures will enlarge.)

Sarah Freitas heads home with first NDA run

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Filed under Notre Dame Academy (Tyngsboro), Pentucket

Tagged as Carly Smith, Kayla Murphy, Lexi Martineau, Nikki Mitchell

April 18, 2022 · 9:46 pm

Molly LeBel strikes out 15 in Pentucket’s 11-1 win over Georgetown

Freshman Molly LeBel struck out 15 Royals

(Groveland) “Molly (LeBel) pitched an excellent game,” said Pentucket coach Deb Smith afterwards.

The stats confirm the assessment: 15 strikeouts, four-hitter, two walks.

Pentucket defeated Georgetown, 11-1, on Monday afternoon.

“This was our first win, and we needed that,” added Coach Smith.

Pentucket (1-3) now has something to build on.

Meanwhile, Georgetown (0-6) continues to chase that first W with a very young team. How young? Today they started six middle schoolers with the Royals only run today driven in by a seventh grader!

McKenzie Riley drove in the Georgetown run

Pentucket took control of this game in the first inning collecting five runs.

“We have been focusing on hitting,” said Coach Smith. “Today it paid off.” Pentucket had eleven hits.

Five of Pentucket’s hits were in their productive first inning when Pentucket sent up ten batters. Nikki Mitchell, Emma Lopata, Meg Hamel, Kayla Murphy, and Julia Daley all singled for the home team.

Georgetown coach Jay Santomassino thought that his team could have done better in the first inning. “We needed to make a play or two to limit the runs they scored,” said Coach Santomassino.

“We were much better defensively after that inning, but it was too late for us,” Coach Santomassino added.

Nikki Mitchell (3 rbi, 3 hits, 2 runs), Emma Lopata (3 rbi, 2 hits, 1 run), and Kayla Murphy (1 rbi, 3 hits, 1 run) put up the big numbers in the Pentucket offense.

“We’ve been working hard in practice to get better,” said senior Emma Lopata post-game.

While the hitting of Pentucket was very good, the pitching of freshman Molly LeBel was “very strong,” according to her coach.

“I was just trying to get it done out there,” said Molly afterwards.

Again, the stats confirm how successful she was. This game went the full seven innings and Molly had at least one strikeout in each inning.

Innings four, five, and six were special. Molly retired nine straight and eight of the outs were K’s. “She was hitting her spots,” said Coach Smith.

While the Royals struggled to make contact, Pentucket started adding runs. Emma Lopata drove in a run in the second on a fielder’s choice and two in the fourth on a loud double to left. Freshman Kayla Murphy tripled in the third inning and scored on a wild pitch. Nikki Mitchell knocked in two runs in the fifth inning with a single.

The Pentucket bats were good, and their pitching was excellent. Two things that will put a team into a good position to win a game.

The Royals (four hits) made solid contact in the seventh. Gillian Figueroa rapped a double to left and McKenzie Riley followed with an RBI single to right.

Windy at Groveland Pines with temperatures falling as the game went on.

Amesbury players were watching today’s action.

Pentucket seniors Emma Lopata (UMass Amherst) and Meg Hamel (Union) have settled on colleges.

Georgetown 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = 1

Pentucket 5 1 1 2 2 2 – = 11

(The pictures will enlarge.)