Coach Dave Dupere | McClelland Miscellanea

Christina Clark slides home with the second Burlington run as catcher Liv Doane waits for the ball to arrive

Christina Clark pitched a one-hitter with nine strikeouts

(Byfield MA) A year ago Burlington’s Christina Clark struck out seventeen Triton Vikings on her way to a 9-0 first round win in the D2 North softball tournament.

With that in the back of my head, I went over to Triton today wondering what to expect a year later in a quarterfinals matchup between the same two teams.

Burlington (17-4) prevailed, 2-1, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and will go on to face Gloucester in the D2 North semifinals.

As far as pitcher Christina Clark is concerned, she’s still an overwhelming presence. Today she recorded nine strikeouts and allowed only one hit. The Vikings had only three baserunners and little good contact off the junior.

“When it comes to softball it’s all about pitching,” said Triton coach Dave Dupere afterwards. “Their pitcher (Christina Clark) was tough to hit. She hit her spots, changed speed and had a good curve ball. We don’t see her speed very often.”

“Christina did well today getting ahead of hitters,” said Burlington coach Kristen Farrell.” Even the balls they put in play weren’t necessarily hit hard.”

Katherine Quigley allowed five hits and one earned run

Lost in the deserved excitement over the pitching of Christina Clark was Katherine Quigley’s performance for the (17-3) Vikings. The sophomore limited the Devils to five hits and retired the last eight batters she faced.

“It was huge for us to do so much better than last time against them,” said Katherine. “I felt that I threw a lot harder today than I did in the win over Saugus. I was more confident and relaxed today.”

Christina Clark retired the last eleven Vikings she faced. “I was feeling the energy of the team as the game went on,” said Christina. “I knew that I had a great defense behind me.”

The Devils had only one error (3B Sydney Shinopulos throw) and Triton turned it into a run in the second inning. Bridget Sheehan walked and reached 3B when Sydney’s attempt to turn a grounder into a force-out went past second allowing Bridget to reach third with one out. Senior Liv Doane’s slow roller to second enabled Bridget to score.

Erin Browne steals second as Emily Karvielis takes the throw

Burlington came back to tie the game in the top of the third inning. Erin Browne’s bunt (down the first baseline) forced a wide throw by catcher Liv Doane. Erin stole second with two outs and came home on Chloe McGonagle’s single to right.

The visitors put together the eventual game winner in their half of the 4^th. Christina Clark reached on a leadoff blooper over third base. Fran Rubino sacrificed Christina to second before freshman Sydney Shinopulos dropped an 0-2 single into right scoring Christina. Christina slid in but as my picture above shows she was in well ahead of the throw.

“Getting a runner in scoring position with Chloe up or Sydney up, you know things could happen,” said Coach Farrell. “We have not had a lot of timely hitting this season.”

The improved defense was a factor for Triton in their very successful season. LF Grace McGonagle made several nice running catches for the Vikings. “Our defense was lights out again,” said Coach Dupere.

Shortstop Bridget Sheehan squeezes a popup

Both Coach Farrell and Christina Clark commended Triton.

“Triton hung tough,” said Coach Farrell.
Much improved over last year.”

“This was a very different game than last year,” said Christina. “They had a good defense.”

The Devils now return again to the D2 North semifinals and will face Gloucester on Wednesday in Lowell. North Reading will also be in the semifinals at the same place and on the same date.

Burlington line of defense

Encouraging for Triton that the three losses this season were against two teams (North Reading & Burlington) which have now reached the D2 North semifinals.

“Burlington was probably the best team we’ve faced all year and we probably played our best game of the year,” recalled Coach Dupere.

Coach Dupere: “Katherine (Quigley) changed her speeds. She’s got three different speeds. She’s tough to hit.”

Coach Farrell: “Any win in the postseason is a good win. Our defense was solid, and our pitcher had a really great game. She had big strikeouts when we needed them.”

Coach Dupere: “I came into this season with high expectations, but the girls exceeded them. We’re losing four important seniors, but we have the nucleus back and we have some good players coming up. We’re going to be a force to be reckoned with next year.”

Plenty of sunshine today but the game was so quick that the tanning/burning was limited!

Sydney Shinopulos (batting) drove in the eventual game winner in the 4th inning

If I could give Triton softball two pieces of advice they would be these: Schedule twenty games instead of eighteen. Seventeen days off before the playoffs is unconscionable. The other thing would be to get a perennial tournament team like St.Mary’s, Burlington, Whittier on the schedule to prep Triton for tournament pitching and hitting.

Nice to see some of the Pentucket players on hand. They lost in the first round to Burlington, 5-1.

Burlington has been the champs of the Middlesex League for seven straight years.

Sophomore Chloe McGonagle was the only player with two hits in the game.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Triton pregame

Burlington pregame

Catcher Meaghan Gurska and pitcher Christina Clark before the game

1B Taylor Penniman catches a foul pop

Meghan Gaffney

1B Jordan Ferullo handles the last out of the game

All smiles for Burlington after 2-1 win

Kat Nikolopoulos

Bridget Sheehan takes 3B after a Burlington throwing error

Erin Browne

Erin Browne scores standing up

Christina Clark reaches 3B as Sydney Shinopulos’ hit is fielded by RF Dani West

Katherine Quigley throws out a runner at first

Bridget Sheehan had Triton’s only hit on this very close play.

Shortstop Bridget Sheehan throws to 3B Colleen McCarthy to force Meghan Gaffney

Senior Liv Doane (batting) drove in Triton’s only run

Emily Karvielis waits for throw from Bridget Sheehan as Meg Winn slides

Triton coach Dave Dupere congratulates Zoe Cesati

(Byfield MA) “Where’s Triton?’”

“In Byfield, where’s that?”

I’m expecting some strangers to show up to watch Triton softball in the near future. Possibly tomorrow at the Manchester-Essex game but certainly at Monday’s showdown with 14-1 North Reading.

What’s all the excitement? The Vikings are having a season to remember. They’ve won eleven straight and are making loud noises in Division Two. The Boston Herald has Triton ranked 25^th in that division today.

This afternoon, Triton (14-1) rallied past Newburyport, 8-3.

“We’ve been underestimated all season,” said CF Zoe Cesati afterwards.

Zoe bounced a two-run homer (first of the year) off the top of the center field fence in Triton’s three-run sixth that gave the home team a 7-2 cushion.

Newburyport shortstop Meg Winn finishes a double play

I chose to do today’s game because I was certain that Newburyport (8-7) was better than the team I saw taken out 17-1 in five innings by Triton on May 1^st.

And right I was. For three innings today, the Clippers looked capable of pulling a huge upset. Triton? Very shaky in the field in the first inning and able to get only two hits in three innings off NHS starter Paige Gouldthorpe.

That shaky defense (three errors) cost Triton two runs and Paige’s pitching had the home team down, 2-0, after three.

“We’ve been down early before and have responded well,” said Triton coach Dave Dupere afterwards.

Bridget Sheehan (3) heads home on a triple by Emily Karvielis

And respond they did. The defense tightened, and the hits followed.

“Everyone started hitting,” explained RF Dani West. “That’s what we needed.”

The Vikings batted around in the 4^th inning, collecting four runs on five hits. “Hitting is our primary focus in practice,” said Coach Dupere. “We play good defense, but we’ve got to hit to win games.”

Triton finished with eleven hits on the afternoon. Junior Bridget Sheehan led the way with three hits and the Cape Ann League All-Star scored three times.

The Vikings would add a run in the fifth and three more in the sixth.

Taylor Penniman beats out a bunt

Newburyport had seven hits getting three of them (Meg Winn, Annie Siemasko, Liv Salvatore) in the 7^th and producing a run.

Annie Siemasko and Liv Salvatore each had two hits. Meg Winn scored twice.

Taylor Penniman and Grace McGonagle had two hits apiece for the Vikings.

Annie Siemasko and Zoe Cesati both made nice running catches in center field.

Newburyport shortstop Meg Winn turned a double play on an infield grounder.

“I have to credit Grace McGonagle,” added Coach Dupere. “The kid gets on every time up!” Grace had two hits, a walk, and was hit by a pitch.

Carisa Boyle slides into second

Emily Karvielis had a run-producing triple in the sixth. Defensively she had five assists and handled three popups.

SeniorDani West (RF) plans to attend Wentworth in the fall to study architecture. Glad to learn from Dani that her mother was better. Dani’s mother was hit by a foul ball at Amesbury earlier in the month. “She has a little concussion and coach now has a special helmet for her to wear at our games.”

“Defensively, we were spotty in the first inning, but we cleaned it up after that,” said Coach Dupere.

Pitcher Katherine Quigley was the winning pitcher. She is 13-1 this season. The sophomore seldom overpowers anyone but pitches to spots and lets Triton’s defense take care of the rest. Katherine gave up one earned run today.

Shortstop Bridget Sheehan looks for the last grounder

Shortstop Bridget Sheehan finished the game handling an obstructed-view grounder.

Dave Dupere was leery about looking past the ME game tomorrow toward Monday’s rematch with North Reading. So I’ll do it. The Vikings lost 6-2 on April 18^th at North Reading. Catcher Tara Driver had three homers for the Hornets. Tara will be going to D1 Niagara on a softball scholarship. Find a way to minimize Tara and Triton could come away with a CAL title. By the way, both teams are in Division 2 so a third game between the two might be in the cards come tournament time. Pentucket did the Vikings a huge favor yesterday by defeating NR 7-3, ending a long (since 2015) winning streak the Hornets had going in the Cape Ann League. The CAL title should be on the line on Monday afternoon in Byfield.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)