GEORGETOWN — It’s something that’s been discussed throughout the spring, and that we’ve alluded to when talking about this Georgetown softball team.
Big picture: The Royals are ahead of schedule.
Captain Ava Ruggeiro is not only the lone senior on the team and the only one with her driver’s license, but Georgetown doesn’t have any juniors, either. The Royals start seven sophomores and two freshmen, who all basically started a year ago when the program qualified for its first state tournament since 2015, and won a game to make it to the Division 5 Round of 16.
Now this spring — another year older — they’re the No. 4 seed in the tourney.
Were they really suppose to be this good this quick?
You don’t get wins over Kinney teams like Essex Tech and Lynnfield — and almost beat Newburyport — without having a good amount of talent. And the fact is, even after a somewhat-shaky victory, 8-6, over a scrappy No. 29 Gateway team on Monday, Georgetown is still headed back to the Division 5 Sweet 16 for the second straight year.
But this time, they have a great shot to take it at least one step further.
“It’s ahead of schedule, but every once in a while we’re reminded that there are seven sophomores and two freshmen out there,” said Georgetown coach Jay Santomassino. “But those seven sophomores and two freshmen already have a lot of innings of varsity softball under their belts at a high level.”
It’s true.
Sophomore pitcher Maddie Grant is already in her third year as the team’s starter, having took over the role as an eighth-grader while improving every spring. You then have Daily News All-Star freshman Ellie Barbarick, who has an incredible 18 career home runs through two seasons — and that number could be a lot higher if the lefty had a fence in right field to hit the ball over at the Penn Brook School. Freshman Talya Mariani is in her second year as the team’s shortstop, and sophomores Ava Fair, Gillien Figueroa, Mackenzie Riley, Jenna Johnson, Maddie Cirone and Cora Robinson round out the rest of the lineup.
We kept telling you that the Royals (12-6) were good.
But sometimes, the youth shows.
Perhaps it was the pressure of being the No. 4 seed and opening the playoffs on its home field. But in the top of the first inning of Monday’s game, three sloppy errors led to three unearned runs for Gateway (7-11). Another miscue in the second made it 4-1, and all of a sudden the Royals were flirting with the idea of being upset.
“We just came out really flat,” said Santomassino. “(Gateway) didn’t hit the ball out of the infield, really, and we just dropped a couple, allowed a bleeder and threw the ball away. Last year we drove two-and-a-half hours to Lee and came out like (Gateway) did today, so credit to them for driving three hours here today and being ready to go. But we settled down after that first inning. Maybe it was first-game nerves?”
Showing the heart of a veteran squad, Georgetown fought back.
The Royals tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the third thanks to an RBI-triple from Barbarick, an RBI-single from Fair and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Figueroa. An inning later, Johnson would double and score on a groundout by Cirone, then errors and wild pitches allowed the Royals to take an 8-4 lead into the top of the seventh.
Gateway made it interesting with a pair of runs on a two-out rally, but Grant (7 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 12 Ks) got a final strikeout to end the game.
Georgetown will now host No. 20 Wareham in the Division 5 Round of 16 on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Georgetown 8, Gateway 6
Division 5 First Round
Georgetown (8): Barbarick c 4-2-2, Grant p 4-2-2, Fair 1b 3-0-2, Figueroa 3b 2-0-1, Riley 2b 3-0-1, Mariani ss 2-1-0, Johnson cf 3-2-2, Cirone lf 3-1-1, Ruggiero dp 3-0-0, Robinson flex/rf 0-0-0. Totals 27-8-11.
RBI: Fair 2, Barbarick, Grant, Figueroa, Cirone
WP: Grant
Gateway (7-11): 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 – 6
Georgetown (12-6): 1 0 3 1 1 2 x — 8