This wasn’t quite the way first-year Milton softball coach Charlie Drane envisioned things would go against Bay State Conference power Walpole.
His team looked like a not-ready-from-prime-time squad as it took infield practice before the contest against the high-flying Timberwolves. By contrast, Walpole appeared more than ready to take down Milton once again.
Fortunately for Milton, games are won in the following seven innings. The Wildcats put it all together and knocked off the visitors, 4-3. That served as the impetus for an 11-0 start to the season before losing to Needham last Tuesday.
“Our girls were really nervous before the game,” Drane said. “Our (pregame) infield and outfield was terrible, then Walpole goes out there and looks great. But we went out and battled them and our pitchers (MK Maloney, Abby Hunt) pitched great.
“The next day at practice, I told the girls if they play with confidence, they can beat teams like Walpole. Historically, Walpole is one of the better teams in our league so if we can beat them, we’re doing something well.”
Drane might be in his first year with the Milton program, but he was no stranger to most of the players on the roster. He’s been involved in coaching softball in the area with the Milton Monarchs and most recently with the Bay State Thunder.
“Many of the girls on the high school team played for me with those teams,” said Drane, who spent 12 years as an assistant boys basketball coach at BC High. “I knew we had a lot of good seniors on this team and two excellent pitchers, so it really was a good situation.”
Most of the top programs in the state like Taunton are blessed with one shutdown ace (Texas Tech-bound Sam Lincoln) who they can ride out day after day. Drane has perfected the delicate balance of using two pitchers (Maloney and Hunt) without any acrimony or jealousy setting in.
“What we’ve done is use both pitchers every game,” Drane explained. “We alternate starts so whoever starts one game will pitch in relief the next game. It worked well at the start of the year, so we stayed with it. The girls like it because it keeps them fresh and they are good friends as well off the field.”
The pitching hasn’t been forced to be letter perfect every time out as the Wildcats are averaging more than eight runs a game. Senior catcher/shortstop Shakura Lynch is batting over .600, while senior shortstop/outfielder Christina McA’Nulty is ripping the ball at better than .500. Sophomore catcher Victoria Fish is back after missing time with an ankle injury and she’s provided Drane with another quality bat along with senior second baseman Cara Facey, who delivered a game-winning RBI in the last of the seventh to beat Newton North.
Youth served at St. Mary’s
Derek Dana knows a thing or three about winning programs.
The highly-successful St. Mary’s (Lynn) baseball coach felt his team had the potential to do some damage. That optimism stemmed from what transpired at the end of the 2023 season when the Spartans entered the Div. 2 MIAA statewide tournament as the No. 10 seed and won three games before losing to a solid King Philip squad in the state semifinals.
Many of those faces were returning and last year’s success clearly hasn’t gone to their heads. St. Mary’s won its first 11 games before an upset loss to Malden Catholic last Tuesday. The key to their early-season rise has been the staff, which has limited the opposition to three runs or less nine times.
“I knew we had a good group of kids coming back, we only had four seniors on the team,” said Dana, who has guided St. Mary’s to three state titles as the head coach as well as two as a former standout player at the school. “The returning kids really worked very hard in the offseason – they are really a tight-knit group.”
Dana has received maximum contributions from a four-man staff keyed by junior left-hander Josh Doney. He’s blossomed as a legit ace as evidenced by his 5-0 record, two saves and 59 strikeouts in 33 innings. Classmate Jack Zimmerman is 2-1, while sophomore Jake Peterson is 2-0 with a pair of saves. The only senior among the foursome is Matt Lewis, who is 2-0.
The hitting has been paced by junior third baseman Jared Paone, sophomore shortstop Michael DeMaino and junior second baseman Jaiden Driscoll. Dana has rotated the lineup from time to time, getting more players into the game.
While only one player (Isaiah Weston) remains from the last championship team in 2021, Dana says the younger players are fully aware of the baseball tradition at St. Mary’s. Little needs to be said on the subject.
“We’ve been very fortunate here in that St. Mary’s has had a lot of success in many sports, not just baseball, so that they understand,” Dana said.
Seeking perfection
Heading into the home stretch of the 2024 spring season, there are only four baseball/softball teams who remained unbeaten as of last Friday. On the baseball front, the only team without a blemish is Georgetown, which has opened with 14 consecutive wins.
In softball, all three unbeaten teams reside in Div. 1, starting with defending state champion Taunton (14-0), which has won 21 straight games dating back to a 1-0 extra-inning loss to King Philip last May. In addition, Lincoln-Sudbury (13-0) and North Andover (11-0) were sporting perfect records.
