PEABODY — One down, four to go.
Senior captain Abby Bettencourt got the Peabody High softball team’s quest for a Division 1 state title started by retiring the first 19 batters she faced in a masterful 1-hit shutout of Westford Academy Sunday morning. Bettencourt struck out 13 and the No. 5 ranked Tanners cruised past the No. 28 Grey Ghosts, 6-0, in first round action at Kiley Field.
Now a four-time Northeastern Conference Player of the Year, Bettencourt was in complete command and struck out seven in a row between the third and fifth innings. She went to a 3-ball count just twice (both resulting in strikeouts looking), and Sarah Kirby’s single with one out in the seventh was first ball that left the infield.
“Her curveball was outstanding. She got a lot of swings and misses on that pitch,” said Peabody head coach Steve Lomasney. “Her north/south movement was excellent and she gets a lot of depth on it. Out of the hand, it looks like its going one way and it ends up someplace else.”
Peabody (18-3) hosts No. 21 King Philip (14-9) Tuesday in the Round of 16 in a battle of teams that lost in the state semifinals in 2023.
Offensively, the Tanners had seven hits and jumped on Westford (11-9). Bettencourt laced the first pitch of the bottom of the first up the middle for her 50th hit of the season and came home on sister Lizzy Bettencourt’s RBI fielder’s choice. Captain Avery Grieco followed with an RBI fielder’s choice of her own.
Senior Kiley Doolin and Jess Steed then delivered back-to-back doubles for a 3-0 advantage. It was 4-0 when catcher Kaylee DiNicola walked in the second, stole second and took both third and home when the throw to try and nab her sailed to the centerfield fence.
That was just one example of heads-up baserunning by the Tanners, who stole nine bases and aggressively went from first to third on just about all contact.
“It’s paying attention to what we’re doing, every pitch,” Lomasney said. “We put a ton of balls in play, so putting some pressure on defenses that way is really important. The more pressure you put on, the more likely something is going to crack.”
The younger Bettencourt crushed a solo homer that nearly hit the right field scoreboard in the the third. Doolin then tripled for her second extra base hit of the day and scored on Caitlyn Burke’s groundout.
“I’m a big fan of giving outs for runs when we have a runner on third. We did that three times, and those are huge runs throughout the course of a game,” Lomasney said.
The Tanners stranded runners on base in the fourth, fifth and sixth. Abby Bettencourt ended the day 2-for-4 with four stolen bases, captain Logan Lomasney was 2-for-3, and Steed and Doolin both reached in all three plate appearances.
“Our approach was excellent,” Steve Lomasney said. “Kiley looks great at the plate, and collectively we’re having great at-bats.”
Defensively, JJ Emerson made several nice plays for outs and outfielder Alanna Sweeney tracked a ball well for a key out in the seventh.