GEORGETOWN — The loudest ovation from the Georgetown faithful on Sunday morning didn’t come after the final pitch.
Although, that one was a loud one, too.
It actually came in the bottom of the sixth inning, when in his last game at Bean Park, senior Ollie Thibeault trotted out of the home dugout to pinch run for Ryan Skahan at second base. The senior tri-captain has been out for a month after suffering an injury against Pentucket on May 5th, and even though he’s not cleared to hit, pitch or field, he can still run. His absence from the lineup, though, has been greatly felt, and the No. 2-seeded Royals were dealt yet another substantial blow when they lost sophomore power hitter Willy Valera right before the start of the Division 5 playoffs.
Yet somehow … it all hasn’t mattered.
Even though it’s been shorthanded, this resilient Georgetown team is still going back to the Division 5 Final Four after beating No. 10 West Boylston in Sunday’s state quarterfinal, 4-2. Junior captain Ty Southall was excellent once again on the mound in going the distance while striking out eight, and in the process, he’s now led the Royals (17-6) back to the program’s third semifinal over the last five seasons.
Adversity has been around every corner, but the Royals have handled it all.
“Just a lot of determination and a lot of guys who want to come out here and win,” said senior Shawn Riley. “It hurts that we’re down two players. But at the end of the day, we still have nine guys who want to come out here and win.”
But even still, it’s quite the two players to be without.
A multi-year starter, Thibeault was hitting .316 (12-for-38) out of the cleanup spot in the order when he went down, while also boasting a 4-1 record on the mound with a 1.52 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 23.0 innings pitched. The Royals dropped three in a row following his injury (while only scoring one total run), but found a way to regroup before ending the regular season winning the annual Bert Spofford Tournament. That, however, is where the team lost Valera and his .389 average (21-for-54), 9 RBI and 2 home runs.
Yet here the Royals are, having still won three straight playoff games.
“When Ollie went down we had a little dip, it was kind of a shock to everyone,” said Georgetown coach Phil Desilets. “But we eventually said, ‘Hey, this is what we have. This is the cards that were dealt to us, and we need to find a different way.’ Then we lose Willy, and it was just talking to the team about not just one person stepping up, it’s a collection of everyone stepping up just a little bit. So that’s been the thing, everyone has stepped up at different moments this year.”
Which was the case once again on Sunday morning.
Georgetown wasted no time grabbing a lead in the bottom of the first inning, stringing together a two-out rally with three straight singles, with the final one from Nate Anderton (1-for-3) scoring Southall (2-for-4) to make it 1-0. The Royals would then threaten with a bases loaded, two-out opportunity in the second, followed by a 2nd-and-3rd, two out spot in the third.
Each time, though, they weren’t able to increase the lead.
But with Southall on the hill … yeah, that didn’t really matter.
“We know he’s going to go out there and do his thing,” said Riley on his pitcher. “I don’t have any doubt in my mind that he’s going to shut down any team we face. I trust him completely when he’s out there, and I know that we’re going to win.”
Quite simply, Southall was sensational once again.
Our reigning Daily News MVP, the junior allowed just three baserunners across the opening six innings of the game, and one of them reached on an error. He then ignited a rally with a leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth, and two subsequent errors from West Boylston (19-4) led to three runs and a 4-0 ballgame. Riley (2-for-3) laid down a perfect bunt single during the frame, AJ Machiavelli scored a run while reaching on an error, and Robbie Skahan would complete a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate with his third single.
And that was more than enough support for Southall.
To its credit, West Boylston didn’t go quietly, and would rally with two singles and a sacrifice fly — while also getting the benefit of an error — to score two runs in the top of the seventh. But with the tying run at the plate, Southall got a groundout to senior shortstop Brendan Loewen (1-for-4) to end it. Only one of the runs Southall allowed was earned, and the outing improves his season-long record to 6-1 while actually increasing his ERA to 0.71.
“That last inning there he left a couple of balls middle, and I went out there and he was mad that I came out,” laughed Desilets. “But I told him that we’ll fight after the game, right now, just go execute some pitches. But yeah, he’s the MVP for a reason. He’s come through clutch for us in so many moments, and there’s nobody else that we rather have out there.”
Moments later, the celebration was on at Bean Park.
Georgetown is headed back to the Division 5 Final Four for the third time in five years, having also made it in 2022 (lost in semis) and 2024 (state runner-up).
“It’s just a testament to the fact that they’re willing to work hard,” said Desilets. “Yesterday at the end of practice, it’s been hot and they have all of the senior stuff going on, but I told them how much I appreciate them just grinding at this point of the year.
“I work them hard all year long to prepare for moments like this.”
A nuetral-site location has not yet been set, but the Royals will play either No. 3 Hopkins Academy or No. 6 Maynard in the semifinals on Tuesday.
“It’s amazing,” said Riley on the opportunity. “We’ve had a couple of ups-and-downs the last couple of weeks, but I feel like right now we’re in a really good place. All of the guys are coming together and nobody is hanging their heads.
“So I think that we’re in a really good spot in this tournament.”
Georgetown 4, West Boylston 2
Division 5 Quarterfinals
West Boylston (19-4): 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 — 2
Georgetown (17-6): 1 0 0 0 3 0 x — 4
West Boylston (2): Jacob Pitro cf 3-0-1, Jack Pitro ss 3-0-1, Dom Renzoni 3-1-1, Evan Labrack 3b 2-0-0, Jameson Lapointe p 3-1-1, Tommy Wyatt 1b 3-0-0, Alex Silver 2b 3-0-0, Anthony Scola lf 3-0-0, David Schena rf 1-0-0, Reyse Dupuis ph/c 1-0-0. Totals 25-2-4
Georgetown (4): Brendan Loewen ss 4-0-1, Rex Nadeau rf 3-0-0, Ty Southall p 4-2-2, Shawn Riley 3b 3-1-2, Nate Anderton lf 3-0-1, AJ Machiavelli 1b 3-1-0, Robbie Skahan c 3-0-3, Ryan Skahan cf 3-0-0, Kyle Gilstein 2b 3-0-0, Ollie Thibeault pr 0-0-0. Totals 29-4-9
RBIs: G — Anderton, Machiavelli, Ryan Skahan; WB — Labrack
WP: Southall (7 IP, 1 ER, 8 Ks); LP: Lapointe