When Mark Veilleux stepped away after a Hall of Fame career coaching softball at Endicott College in 2017 — one that included 620 victories, 13 conference championships and 10 NCAA Division 3 appearances — he assumed he’d filled out his last lineup card.
“I didn’t envision myself being back,” admitted Veilleux.
But the allure of the game he loved was too strong.
Now a spry 72 years old, the lifelong Danvers resident is the head coach of his hometown Falcons, who are 6-4 and ranked No. 10 in the state’s most recent Division 3 power rankings.
Among his varsity players is Veilleux’s granddaughter, freshman first baseman Brooke Wilichoski.
“I saw that the Danvers job had opened up last summer, and figured it’d be a good time to go back,” said Veilleux. He had previously worked with the Falcons under head coach Otto Moulton in the 1990s, helping guide the 1991 squad (where his daughter, Amy, was a superstar pitcher and Amy Papamechail was a slugging first baseman) to a 22-0 record and a berth in the Division 2 state championship game against Oakmont Regional.
“There wasn’t a whole lot to it,” he added. “I gave them my resume, went for an interview in front of the search committee, then found out I got the job. It’s worked out really well; I’m really enjoying it.”
Veilleux hadn’t been out of the sport entirely; he coached a season at Ipswich High before the pandemic hit, and also worked the summer club circuit and well as in the fall. Because of this, he knew about three-quarters of his current DHS roster before their first practice took place.
“Some of the kids he had on those club teams, Veilleux chuckled, he had previously coached their mothers a generation ago.
Starting three freshmen most days (Kyla Maroney, third baseman Briley Keezer and Wilichoski), the Falcons have had no issues plating runs this spring. They’ve scored 78 times while hitting an even .300 as a team.
Sophomore shortstop Addi McCarty has really caught her new coach’s eye with her standout play in the field as well as with a bat in her hands. Out of the cleanup spot, she leads the Falcons in batting (.419) with 10 runs scored, seven extra base hits, and is second on the club in RBI with 13. She cranked a home run in a win over Swampscott last Wednesday, too.
“Addi’s the real deal,” said Veilleux. “She’s got a rocket arm, her range is outstanding, and she can really hit.”
Senior captain Sammie Fay, the second baseman, is hitting at a .417 clip while All-Northeastern Conference catcher Ava Gray is at .387. Also a team captain, Gray done a fine job working with four different DHS pitchers: junior Skylar Coakley, sophomores Autumn Buckley and Alli McGinnity, and Moroney.
“Ava knows how to call pitches, frames pitches well, and has a cannon for an arm,” said Veilleux. “Teams don’t try to steal against her too often.”
Coakley currently leads Danvers with 14 RBI while Moroney, who has also played the outfield and some shortstop in addition to seeing time on the mound, has a team-best 12 runs scored. Senior captains Brea Robinson and Lauren Ahearn have been solid in center and right field, respectively.
“There’s some talent there,” Veilleux said of his roster. “We’ve been playing good defense behind our pitchers, and having a deeper staff than most can help us in the second half, too.”
Veilleux — whose teams prided themselves on pitching and defense — would like to see is the runs scored against his club (49) cut down in the second half of the year. Driving home runners that get on base is also paramount, he said.
“We left 10 runners on base against Gloucester (Friday in a 2-0 loss). That’s tough when that happens,” he admitted. “You have to make something happen. We’re working on it and will get there.”
The legendary coach, who was familiar with first-year Danvers High athletic director Drew Betts (who played baseball at Endicott) before taking the job, praised his two assistant coaches, each of whom he feels could be college head coaches. Laura Carlson, who won four state titles at Bishop Fenwick and played with Amy Veilleux on Merrimack’s 1994 state title team, followed Veilleux to Danvers after 15 years coaching with him at Endicott. The other is former Yale pitching star Toni Shickolovich, who like Carlson has been outstanding.
“I like working with the young kids and the challenge of going to practice and try to make them a little bit better day by day,” said Veilleux. “I’m really enjoying myself here.”
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This might’ve gone under the radar, but Pingree’s Sadie Canelli pulled off a triple play recently in the Highlanders’ recent 8-7 triumph over Penguin Hall.
The senior captain and first baseman made a heads up defensive play to turn the trick. With runners on first and third, she caught a shallow popup for one out, stepped on the first base bag before the runner there could get back to it for out No. 2, then fired across the diamond to nail the runner at third.
Voilà: triple play.
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Ipswich is still looking for its first win this spring, but the season was brightened on Thursday when senior captain Annabel Morris recorded the 100th strikeout of her career pitching against Amesbury.
The Tigers also have two unique players this season in senior Julie Hüber and junior Thalia McNamara. Hüber, an exchange student from Norway, spent the winter learning this new sport, said head coach Kelsey Fisher. She played soccer for IHS last fall.
McNamara is a first-time softball player as well — but she had spent years playing baseball beforehand. She had four hits and three RBI over a three-game span recently.
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Fresh off of back-to-back shutout victories to climb within one game of .500, it’s a big week upcoming for Gloucester.
The Fishermen (now 5-6), who knocked off Danvers Friday, 2-0, after losing the first time around (4-3), will play all three of their games at home — two against state powerhouses, the other against a dangerous NEC rival.
Gloucester welcomes in a red-hot 6-2 St. Mary’s of Lynn team Monday (4 p.m.); the visiting Spartans have captured six straight wins while outscoring their foes by a whopping 73-22 over those half-dozen outings.
Swampscott comes down to Cape Ann Wednesday on a power surge of its own; the Big Blue (currently 4-4) have rebounded from a 1-3 start by scoring 59 runs since then, producing three blowout victories. The week ends with a visit from Walpole (11-1), which happens to be the No. 3 ranked team in Division 2 and has won eight straight.
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Peabody’s loss to Beverly last Monday, ending their lengthy Northeastern Conference unbeaten streak dating back to 2019, undoubtedly stung. But the Tanners will be better because of it, said head coach Steve Lomasney — because that’s the nature of his players.
“Knowing how to play in these tight games is really important for the players to understand what it takes to win these games,” Lomasney stated. “We’re going to learn from it. There are still a lot of games to be played, a lot of things to figure out.
“We’ll be much better prepared when the playoffs roll around because of this.”
The team’s two losses (including a 1-0 setback to Bishop Fenwick 2-plus weeks ago) have not hurt Peabody in the Division 1 power rankings. They are ranked No. 3 and will take a 6-2 mark into Monday’s rematch with Fenwick.
Beginning today, the Tanners will play 12 games in 22 days, a breakneck pace. That includes contests against four programs ranked in the Top 10 of their respective divisions: at Newton North (May 11), home vs. Danvers (May 15), a home rematch with Beverly (May 21) and at Central Catholic (May 24), the latter currently the state’s No. 2 team. Peabody’s regular season ends Memorial Day at Archbishop Williams.
As long as the Tanners can clean things up during the course of a game and produce better at-bats in certain situations, said Lomasney, they’re going to be fine in the long run. This is, after all, a squad that has some nonpareil talent in Abby Bettencourt (arguably the state’s best hitter/pitcher), Logan Lomasney, Lizzy Bettencourt, Kiley Doolin, Jess Steed, Avery Grieco, Kaylee DiNicola, et. al.
“We have to practice better,” Lomasney said. “It’s about the consistency of getting to the field every day and practicing like we’re playing.
“They’ve had a really, really good (NEC) run and this is a super talented team, but we have to refocus and get back to playing ball the way the girls can,” he added. “And they’re going to be there in the end; I know they are.”
In The Circle, a column on North Shore high school softball, appears each Monday in The Salem News. Contact Phil Stacey at pstacey@salemnews.com and follow him on X @PhilStacey_SN.