The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) girls’ softball team showed a new level of tenacity on Saturday, falling to Brockton High School 13-10 at the MVRHS softball field in a nail-biting match.
After a tough start to the season that included several mercy-rule losses, the Vineyarders (0-6) trailed throughout the game on Saturday against Brockton but refused to fade. Down multiple runs in later innings, junior captain Kelly Pacheco, an “energy bus” for the Vineyard team, delivered an inside-the-park home run that ignited the team’s spirit and excited the crowd, keeping them guessing until the final out.
“[That felt] phenomenal,” said Pacheco after the game. “This team, we’ve worked so hard right from the get-go. We might have had some mistakes out there, but we really bounced back, and it really, really goes a long way because that just shows us and shows everybody what type of team we are. We’re the team that just bounces back and rallies together.”
Head Coach Tiffany McCarty said despite some fielding challenges early in the season, they came together for a meeting before Saturday’s game, and they all agreed they would battle every inning from there on out.
“Today was a completely different team — we’ve really been struggling in the field, and defensively if we have one bad inning, it just kills the flow of the team,” said McCarty. “We’ve only played seven [innings] twice now because it’s just gotten to them and last week, we had a big team meeting and said, ‘We’re not doing this anymore, we’re going full seven, we’re gonna give it our all.’ And they really gave it their all today.”
The Vineyard team’s goal for the season is clear; make it to the playoffs. Captain Pacheco said they were close last year and is hopeful the team can improve enough to compete in the post-season this year.
“A big goal that we have this year, and it’s definitely reachable … is to make it into the playoffs,” said Pacheco. “We were really close last year, and this year, I feel like we can make it in and really get some good games in there.”
McCarty highlighted that the Vineyard team improved notably in one area on Saturday: defense. The team has also dropped less fly balls. The team has adopted a mantra, “team no drops,” applying the same focus that McCarty stresses to her MVRHS cheerleading squad that she is also the head coach of.
The Vineyard team has another mantra, “play for your why,” said McCarty. “Why are we playing this game? What is our ‘why?’”
“It was great to have them come out, be ready to play, and this is the most energetic I’ve seen them,” said McCarty. “The most coming together as a team … they stopped playing for themselves and started playing for the Vineyard.”
The softball team’s next game is against Mashpee High School at home on Tuesday April 28, starting at 3:15 pm.