ORANGE — Before his team took the field, Mahar softball coach Jerry Duguay ushered his squad off to the side to play catch with one another, declaring that his team was not warmed up.
And right out of the gate, the Senators didn’t seem ready. Duguay made a switch at second base just moments before first pitch and catcher Alexis Mainville-Schaefer left the game after four batters due to injury. The Senators allowed six runs in the first inning, had six wild pitches and a throwing error.
With two more players going down to injury as the game progressed, everything amounted to the Athol Red Raiders routing the Senators, 17-5, Wednesday.
“No mentally or physically I don’t think we were (prepared),” Duguay said. “I think some of these girls have to take a little more of a mental toughness and get out here and get properly warmed up. I can’t oversee everything, so they have to get out here, get ready mentally and physically. These girls are young and they’re starting to learn that they can’t just come out and throw a ball around. Everything has to have a meaning.”
The Red Raiders (5-4) took advantage of their long-time rival’s tardiness, generating 17 runs on 15 hits, three walks, two hit batsmen and six Mahar errors.
“This is huge,” Athol coach Sharon Chauvette said. “This is our big rivalry and we came out strong. After a big win against Gardner last night, we told the girls this week we need to make a run in the league and now we are at 5-4 and we want to get to 10 (wins) to make it to tournament.”
Lindsey Leblanc went 3-for-4 for the Red Raiders with three singles, two RBIs and one run. Destiny Wrigley went 3-for-5 with three runs and two doubles. Amber Mahony went 2-for-2 with one walk and three runs.
The Red Raiders scored in all but the third and fifth innings, putting up six runs in the first, three in the second, two in the third, four in the fourth and two in the sixth.
“I always tell them they need to be thinking the next step ahead,” Chauvette said. “Just because you get to base doesn’t mean that’s it, play’s over. I noticed Abby (Roberts) made a heads up play, moving to second when nobody was covering, that’s the kind of thing I keep trying to tell them. Always be aware of the next step. Get to second if we can, if we can push it.”
The Senators (3-4) scored two runs in the first on four walks and a single by Skylar Dodge.
The Red Raiders made it 9-2 in the second. Wrigley led off with a double. After Sadey Lehtomaki reached on a dropped third strike, Amber Mahony hit a comebacker to the pitcher. Megan Rich fielded it and went to first with the throw. Mahony was called safe, so first baseman Juliana Herbert threw home to get Wrigley out while advancing on the play. The throw beat Wrigley by a couple of feet, but she got underneath the tag to make it 8-2. Mahony then took home on a throwing error to first by third baseman Shelby Ponusky.
“Mentally, I don’t think they were here,” said Duguay. “This was a tough one. This was a real tough one. But Athol came out and they beat us and we just didn’t play our best ball.”
Up 11-5, the Red Raiders scored four runs in the fifth on singles by Wrigley and Leblanc, a double by Haley Bigwood and a throwing error by Mahar second baseman Kayla Lafrennie. The team added two more in the seventh on three singles and a throwing error by Mahar third baseman Hannah Dupont, who came in for the injured Ponusky in the third.
“I’m seeing girls that are hurting,” Duguay said. “We’re getting a little bit of an injury bug and, you know, I don’t know what else to say. This was a tough one and this one is hard to swallow. I thought we had a really good chance. …We didn’t follow through.”