The Georgetown softball team has waited 361 long days for this moment.
And this time, the Royals are going to be more than ready.
Not that they weren’t on June 15th, 2024, when way out on the beautiful UMass Amherst campus, they fell to Turners Falls in the Division 5 state championship game, 5-0. But this time, on Wednesday afternoon from the grounds of UMass Lowell (5 p.m.), the No. 4 Royals will be eager to try and dish out some revenge against the No. 1 Thunder in the state semifinal.
Make no mistake, this is the rematch they’ve been hoping for.
“We’ve been working hard to hopefully get (Turners Falls) again,” said star Georgetown sophomore Ellie Barbarick after the team’s Elite 8 win over No. 5 Maynard. “We would love to get another opportunity against them.”
Low and behold, that wish has been granted.
But will the final result be any different this time around?
Well, for starters, you have to remember some of the context surrounding last year’s title game. By really all accounts, that Georgetown team was ahead of its schedule when it came to development and career trajectory. The year prior in 2023, the Royals made the tournament for the first time since 2015, and won a game to reach the Division 5 Round of 16. That same core of Barbarick, Maddie Grant, Ava Fair, Gillien Figueroa, Jenna Johnson, Talya Mariani and Cora Robinson were back to fuel last year’s run to the title game … but at the end of the day, it was still a starting lineup with seven sophomores and two freshmen.
And with Turners Falls in the other dugout.
The same Turners Falls state powerhouse that came into the game with 10 championships and left with 11. The same Turners Falls program who’s star pitcher during that win, Madison Liimatainen, was the eighth-grade starting catcher on the 2021 team that beat Amesbury in the Division 3 title game.
So, of course Georgetown came ready to win.
But in that moment for a bunch of sophomores and freshmen, against that team, there was a bit of a “Wow, we’re actually here,” factor. Which played itself out in the game, as the Thunder scored their five runs across the first two innings before Grant settled in and shut them down the rest of the way.
That “wow” factor, though, shouldn’t be an issue this time around.
Yes, by simple math Georgetown (20-3) is still just a bunch of juniors and sophomores this year. But ever since the last out of that title game, getting back has been all the program has thought about. The Royals enter Wednesday’s game with what is believed to be their most wins in history, the program’s first CAL Baker title since 2010, and already with historic wins this spring over the likes of Malden Catholic, Amesbury, Triton, North Reading, Newburyport and St. Mary’s (Lynn).
And leading the way is Grant.
Besides having a 1.09 ERA and 211 strikeouts in the circle, the junior is also hitting .594 with 21 RBI and 5 home runs. Meanwhile, Barbarick continues to be unbelievable, as the two-time Daily News All-Star is batting .586 with 40 RBI and 15 home runs. Mariani (.500, 27 RBI, 5 HRs), Fair (.460, 3 HRs) and Johnson (.436) are all batting over .400, Mia Girard is at .386 and had a massive two-run single in the team’s quarterfinal win, and both Figueroa and freshman Megan Maguire have been hitting the ball well in the playoffs.
But while the Royals will be ready, it won’t be easy.
Turners Falls (19-4) still has Liimatainen in the circle, a five-year varsity player and four-year starting pitcher who has over an incredible 1,000 career strikeouts. The senior is also helping her own cause most nights by batting over .500 for the year, and Marilyn Abarua, Ameliya Galbraith, Mia Marigliano, Janelle Massey, Addison Talbot and Autumn Thorton are all names who can hit the ball as well. Then, of course, you can’t forget about legendary Thunder coach Gary Mullins, who has been in the dugout for all 11 championships over his 44-year tenure and who has over 800 wins.
So will it be sweet revenge for Georgetown?
Or will the Thunder storm back to another title game looking to make it a dozen?