BYFIELD — The way things currently stand in Division 3 softball, some unlucky top-8 seed is going to draw Triton in the first round of the upcoming state tournament.
Heck, it may end up being CAL rival Pentucket for a third time this year!
But whoever is the poor soul that ends up with the short straw, they’ll get a Triton team playing its best softball at the perfect time. Following a dominant, 16-0 victory over Newburyport that took just five innings on Tuesday, the Vikings (12-6) are now winners of five straight. Although, despite that, with two games left in the regular season the Vikings still find themselves down at No. 26 in the latest MIAA rankings.
“We’re putting together quality at-bats,” said Triton coach Alan Noyes. “We didn’t chase today, and we’re growing together as a team. I’ve been saying since I got here that we’re a second-half team, and we’ve gotten used to playing with each other. Seven of our nine starters are different from last year, and they just had to grow into their roles.”
Remember, this is a program that was in the Final Four two years ago, and the quarterfinals last spring.
Sure, many of the faces that powered those two runs have since moved on.
But at the heart of it all is still two-time Daily News MVP Emma Penniman, and the trio of Jillian Giusto, Ava Johnson and Maddie January have been lineup staples over the past three years as well. It was a bit of a slower start to this spring, but new faces like Addison Ewell, Maggie Rennick, Virginia Thompson and Alyssa Ewell have all found their roles and are starting to produce consistently.
And even when the program suffered a brutal preseason injury, Johnson — the team’s second baseman the past two years — took one for the team and has filled in admirably at catcher.
“Ava’s been a rock star,” said Noyes. “She stepped up when Grace went down. Grace McHale was going to be our catcher, but she broke her patella during our first practice of the year. So then Ginger (Thompson) stepped up, she was catching for us at the beginning, then Ava took over and hasn’t looked back.”
And Triton’s fifth straight win on Tuesday came in emphatic fashion.
Scoreless after the first inning, the Vikings would plate six runs in the bottom of the second, three more in the third and then seven in the fourth. The trio of Rennick (4-for-4), Thompson (3-for-3) and Alyssa Ewell (2-for-2) each had at least two hits, and Giusto went 1-for-3 with a two-run double. Addison Ewell, Penniman (3-for-3, 6 RBI) and January each had a hit, and in the circle Penniman surrendered just two hits and struck out 11.
Newburyport (4-14) tried to stage something in the top of the fourth, getting back-to-back hits from Cassidy Bolcome and Isla DeVivo to lead off the frame before ultimately coming up empty. Lilah Thompson made a handful of nice defensive plays at third base for the Clippers, who will end their season with road trips to North Reading and Beverly.