If she has her way, Claire Ballard’s impact on Windham High softball will be a lasting one.
Already a two-year starter in the circle, the Jaguar pitcher is a key piece in a talented junior class that has Windham right in the thick of the playoff hunt, ready to make some noise not just this spring, but next.
But Ballard has no plans on stopping there. Currently, she is one of the most sought after pitching coaches in town among the 10-to-12-year-old set.
“I have younger siblings. Kate is a freshman on our team, and my mom used to coach her. Through those connections, I started coaching them,” said Claire. “I’m a pitching coach for some younger pitchers, and love my time coaching with the younger kids. It feels so good to give back. My younger sister, Addison, is 10. Seeing her and her friends out there — it’s so nice to see them grow and watching them all get better.”
Her impact could be exponential!
But first things first. Ballard and her teammates are off to a 5-5 start under first-year Jags head coach Brian Martin.
“It’s going pretty well. Our team has a lot of talent definitely. and I like coach’s style, how positive he is with us,” said Ballard. “He’s there to help us out. It’s nice to have someone so positive with us.”
Ballard, who began pitching at the 10-U level and fell in love with the spot almost immediately, forms one of the better batteries in the state, with classmate Ari DeCotis.
“Ari has always caught, and she’s a beast. Obviously, she’s pretty awesome,” said Ballard of DeCotis, who was the Division I Player of the Year as a freshman. “She’ll come out to the mound and say exactly what I need to hear when I am struggling. We’re best friends off the field as well. She’s awesome.”
Ballard’s only sport is softball, but she’s built an extremely attractive resume in her time at Windham High, as a member of the National Honor Society with a 4.3 gpa, a member of the math honor society, student council and co-chair of the junior prom committee.
But it’s in between the lines where she is happiest, of course, and she would like to keep it that way.
“I hope softball can take me to college. I want to play softball in college,” she said. “It’s like having a family outside of your family. and I feel like having something outside of just school, having something else like softball has made me a better person. It’s also taught me how to be a leader.”
Windham will press on through the second half and should improve as the team gets more and more comfortable with the new coaching staff.
The goal is to be playing its best softball by the end of this month.
“We need to just stick together as a unit and keep our bats going,” said Ballard, who plays club softball for the Granite State Elite 18-U team. “If we can continue that, continue our strong spirit, make the plays we need to make, it’s going to improve our record.”
Knights’ start in perspective
For the Turkey Town historians still reveling in the Knights’ shutout of Central Catholic this week – a battle of unbeaten – North Andover High’s 9-0 start is pretty eye-popping.
Not since the Britt Hart-led Division 2 state finalist team of 2007 has a North Andover softball team been unbeaten this deep into the year. That club finished the regular season at 20-0 and went 24-1 overall, the only blemish a 2-1 defeat vs. Hudson in the title game.
One hidden key to the Knights’ success – evident in Thursday’s win over the Raiders – has been the outfield defense.
It was a spot where coach Caitlin Flanagan had some concerns heading into the year.
“I was never really sure about the outfield last year, but this year the outfield play has been phenomenal,” said Flanagan. “We’ve had more diving catches so far this year than the last three years combined.
“Lily Fabiano is in left, Lauren Lynch moved over from right into center, and Marisa Lizotte in right has made some ESPN-worthy catches this year. They want to make plays, and they want to take hits away. and I think (pitcher Brigid Gaffny) feeds off that emotion and energy when they make a big play.”
The Knights will look to continue the run right threw the Methuen tournament on Memorial Day weekend and then the postseason.
“To beat really good teams like Tewksbury and Central, it feels great,” said Flanagan. “I think it is (sustainable). Offensively, everybody takes turns. We have eight kids that are hitting over .300. It really takes the pressure off of any one kid, and everyone is helping out.”
Ranger rhythm
One team looking to find its best stride is Methuen, which knocked off Dracut under the lights on Friday night to move to 6-5. The Rangers are 4-2 with ace Mackenzie Yirrell in the circle and could be on the verge of a burst at just the right time.
“We’re playing a little bit better, but it can be a rollercoaster at times, trying to find the right lineup combinations,” said coach Jason Smith. “Trying to get that right combination is something we’ve been working with all spring. We played pretty well against Central, had some good hits, but we just didn’t string stuff together.”
Smith has been more than happy with the progress made by three of his players recently.
Senior third baseman Ari Baez leads the club with a .500 average and 17 RBIs. Junior Colleen McNamara has found a home at first base, currently hitting .400 with 11 runs and 11 RBIs, and sophomore Adriana Delaney is batting .395 with six RBIs.
“Ari has been very consistent, leading the team in hitting and RBIs, and is hitting it extremely well,” said Smith. “Delaney has solidified herself as a force in our lineup. She wants to get better, you can tell.
“Colleen had been in the lineup consistently the past two years. Defensively, she wasn’t playing that well last year. But this year, she has been excellent at first, and she continues to hit the ball very well.”
The Rangers face an important week with road games at Haverhill and Billerica before Friday night’s Burnham Road battle with Tewksbury.
The week ahead
Fresh off what some might consider a big upset of Salem, Timberlane looks to topple unbeaten, 10-0, Pinkerton Academy, on the Owls’ home turf on Monday.
One quick digression here …
Of the four major spring team sports – baseball, softball, boys and girls lax – Pinkerton is the lone remaining unbeaten in Division I. That’s a rarity. …
Tuesday, the Reggies of Greater Lawrence Tech host Whittier Tech at 4 p.m.
Two quick digressions here …
1 — It is flat-out tremendous that these two rivals are again in the same Commonwealth Conference large are back to playing twice a year.
2 – What the heck is the MIAA doing putting Whittier Tech softball in Division 1 this spring? The Wildcats were in Division 4 last year. Bumping them up to D1 in one year does not seem fair. …
On Friday, there are two games of special interest.
First, Archbishop Molloy High School visits fellow Marist Brothers school, Central Catholic, at 3:45. That’s followed by the aforementioned Methuen-Tewksbury title at 7.
Central follows that one up with a trip to King Philip, the 10th-rated team in Division 1 on Saturday morning.
“We’ve played (Molloy) here and there. Every couple years they come up on a trip. We’ve had a long relationship with them, but we haven’t seen them since COVID,” said Raider coach Stacy Ciccolo.
“I think we’re in a slump right now. We have to find a way out of it, and we have to come out of it quickly. Chelmsford can hit the ball, and we have them on Wednesday.
“It’s a big week for us. It’s going to tell us where we are. I don’t know if we can win all three, but we really need to show we can compete.”