ORANGE — The Mahar varsity softball team has had its share of hiccups this season. Often, the team can overcome those one- or two-inning slippages. On Thursday, however, that was not the case.
The Senators (7-12) gave up six hits and five runs to Mohawk Trail Regional High School in the top of the seventh inning, turning a threerun lead into a 9-7 loss.
“It’s been that way all year,” said Mahar coach Jerry Duguay. “Five innings, we outplay everybody. I don’t care who they are, Turners (Falls High School), Greenfield, it doesn’t matter, we can play with anybody. Our Achilles’ (heel) is two innings and two innings is too much. It’s just been that way.”
Duguay contributed it partially to inconsistency on the roster. The Senators were down to nine players on Thursday for various reasons (injuries, school-sanctioned trips) and had three ninth-graders in the lineup on Thursday, with Brooke Mitchell making her second varsity start. These two circumstances has led to 17 players receiving at-bats and more suiting up at various times throughout the season.
“The inconsistency of the roster has been killing us,” said Duguay. “I had two more girls (Mitchell and Keanna Thompson) playing that don’t normally play varsity. It’s no excuse. They know better. They’ve been playing together long enough to know what’s going on. The team chemistry is phenomenal and I want to make that clear, the girls love playing with each other, it’s just — they can’t put seven innings together and I don’t know why.”
Down 7-6 in the top of the seventh, Regan Dupree hit a single to center field to put the tying run on the board for Mohawk. Two batters later, Morgan Roccio was early on the swing, but ripped a ball over first base and into right field to score Dupree, putting the Warriors up 8-7. Mohawk put up an insurance run when Roccio scored on a rundown between third and home, getting in just underneath the tag of Mahar catcher Lani DeDiego.
The Senators had runners in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when DeDiego got a good piece of the ball and drove it to right field, only for Mohawk’s Alicia Johnston to get to the ball in stride to end the game.
The Senators were up 5-0 at the end of the second inning. The team strung together four hits, including back-to-back doubles by Megan Rich and Sarah Graeff, to score four runs in the bottom of the first.
“I think they know what needs to be done,” said Duguay. “I think they’re hungry for it and they know what’s happening and hopefully they will right the ship.”