GROVELAND — Of course this legendary Pentucket senior class wasn’t going to let it end in a whimper.
That’s not what 61 combined wins over four years gets you.
So trailing 5-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning of Tuesday’s Division 3 Round of 16 game, with their last chance to make something happen, Kayla Murphy, Molly LeBel, Mia Bartholomew and Jocelyn Bickford just did what they’ve done their whole careers.
Fight.
Murphy led off the rally with a double, and followed by a Caitlin McCoy walk and Kallie White two-run double, all of a sudden it was 5-4 with a runner on second and no outs. Then after Bickford laid down a one-out sac bunt and reached on a throwing error, the game-tying run was just 60 feet from home.
Against all odds, No. 7 Pentucket was about to pull it off.
But sadly, it just wasn’t meant to be.
Michaela Gabardi drew a walk to load the bases with one out, but that’s when No. 10 Greater New Bedford pitcher Akira’ley Vasquez really bore down. The talented and promising freshman got a strikeout and a flyout to escape the jam, and send her Bears moving on to the Division 3 quarterfinals with a dramatic 5-4 victory over Pentucket.
“Those four are the best leaders we’ve ever had,” said Pentucket coach Deb Smith. “They never give up and fight so hard. And they’re all in pain fighting through some injury, but they’ve all just grinned through 22 games. But that’s the furthest we’ve ever gone, we’ve never made the Sweet 16 at Pentucket before.”
Of course, there were dreams to make it a few rounds more.
And with the way Tuesday’s game — and ultimately the season — came to an end, the Panthers (19-3) will be thinking about what could have been until next spring starts up.
But given time, some perspective will eventually sink in.
The greatest season in program history? It just might be.
Pentucket’s 19 wins this year are believed to be the most ever, and the program capped it by winning its first CAL Kinney title since 1990. There were historic victories over Triton and North Reading this spring, and after getting upset in the first round of the last two Division 3 state tourneys, the Panthers earned some playoff success this year with a 4-1 win over Greater Lawrence in the opening round.
Exactly what this senior class deserved.
“We had goals to reach this year,” said Smith. “One was to beat Triton and North Reading, and we did it. We wanted to win the CAL, and we did it. And we wanted to get to the Sweet 16, and we did it. So it was an unfortunate ending, (Greater New Bedford) outplayed us today, but we still accomplished a lot of our goals this year.”
And the senior class leaves quite the legacy.
For LeBel, the team’s four-year starting pitcher, it’s a brilliant career that ends with over 700 strikeouts. For Murphy, who will continue on at UMass Boston, it’s a legendary career with well over 100 hits — while also being one of, if not the best, defensive shortstops in the league over the past four years. Then throw in Bickford and Bartholomew … and, yeah, you get a record 61 total wins.
Remember, the two years before this class arrived, the program had a combined six wins.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better team or a group of girls,” said Smith. “It was the best season in program history. It was just awesome, and they never gave up.”
Greater New Bedford (16-8) scored twice in the top of the first inning, but Pentucket responded with one in the bottom half when Sarah Freitas led off with a double and scored on a wild pitch. The score would stay the same until the sixth, and to their credit, the Bears hit the ball hard all game.
The Bears would add an insurance run in the sixth, but the Panthers immediately got it back in the bottom half when Ciara Penne singled home Bickford. It would have been a big hold in the top of the seventh, but the Bears came up clutch with an RBI-triple by Hayden Gomes, who would later score on a past ball to make it 5-2.
And as it turns out, the Bears needed every one of those runs.