'Something you don't forget': Middleboro softball back for redemption in Div. 3 title game

WORCESTER − Redemption. It's the origin story of the Middleboro High softball team's commanding postseason run − and, really, its season as a whole.

At this time last year, the Sachems suffered a 8-5 loss to Greater New Bedford in the Division 3 state championship game. When the final out was recorded, it left a scar that has lasted to this day.

A stream of the game is posted on YouTube. Pitcher Cassidy Machado, one of the team's eight seniors, refuses to relive it.

"I haven’t watched it," said Machado. "I just can’t."

“It’s traumatic," senior center fielder Alex Welch said.

“When we lost, we were devastated. Absolutely devastated,” Machado said. “It’s really pushing us this year. We want to win. We don’t want to leave our high school careers not with a state championship.”

So when No. 6 Middleboro encountered the Division 3 semifinals at Worcester State University on Tuesday evening, it was about seeing that championship game again. And the Sachems will, behind a 3-0 win over No. 7 Triton Regional.

The team will face the winner of No. 4 Norton and No. 9 Bishop Fenwick in the Div. 3 Final at UMass-Amherst (date/time TBD).

“It’s something you never forget," coach Dan Sylvia said of last year's loss. "For these kids, that was their first time ever being in that game. They were lucky they were juniors with an opportunity to battle to get back to that spot. It’s tough enough to get there once. To go back-to-back, whether you won it the first year or not, it’s huge.”

Redemption, Part 2: Sylvia said the team has been pushing to make up for lost time in the tournament, as this senior class lost its freshman campaign to the pandemic. Between the 14 tournament games played the last three years, the team has nearly made up for the vacated season.

"I’ve said it’s my job to get as many playoff games as we can to replace that first season they lost,” Sylvia said.

Tuesday's win granted Middleboro (20-4) one more swing. The seniors' last, win or lose.

KEY PLAYS

The right-hander Machado faced a first-inning frenzy almost immediately.

A Grace Romine double and two walks to Isabella Oldoni and Skyler Colburn loaded the bases for Triton with one out. Machado mowed down the next two batters via strikeout, and for the remaining six innings of work, the senior gave up just two hits and three total base runners.

“We didn’t start the way we wanted to. Cass battled," Sylvia said. "Loved to see us get out of that (giving up) nothing. That was huge. Built momentum for us, no doubt about it.”

“I feel like, in the beginning, it was more so me trying to find the ump’s strike zone. He had a very tight strike zone and I was struggling a little bit with finding where it was," Machado said. "In the second inning, I felt like I understood his strike zone and where he was calling, so it made it much easier to figure out where I should put my pitches.”

Machado, a Nichols College commit, struck out 15 (including five in a row after loading the bases) in the win.

“She’s on her game,” Sylvia raved of Machado. “She thrives in the moment.”

After the first-inning defensive stand, the lineup chimed in the next half-inning. Welch, who hit a home run in each of the Sachems' three playoff games, including two grand slams in consecutive innings against No. 22 Arlington Catholic in the quarterfinals, did it again.

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The senior center fielder cranked a two-run moonshot over the right-field fence to put the Sachems ahead, 2-0, in the first. Senior shortstop Haley Puzzo singled the batter before.

“Once it came, I hit it, and I was like, ‘I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t know where that’s going. It felt like a giant pop-up foul ball.’ And then it went out," Welch said. "It was really surprising, honestly.”

“The whole bench knew it," Machado said with a smile. "It came off the bat and we were sprinting out.”

Welch's lone hit of the evening was a big one.

“You talk about your leaders. My two captains: Cassidy and Alex," said Sylvia. "Two good picks, if you follow my point.”

Middleboro mustered up another rally in the fifth, as senior third baseman Mel Rees (2-for-3) hit a scorcher to right field, in a similar spot to Welch's home run, but it scraped against the wall and stayed in the park for a double. Senior second baseman Eva Jenness (2-for-3) then slapped a single to right field and the next batter, senior left fielder Maddie Ryder, skied a sacrifice fly to center to score freshman Olivia Gallo (Rees' pinch runner) from third base.

Middleboro led 3-0, entering the sixth.

“When Alex hit that (home run in the first), our momentum went up and we were loud through the whole game," Machado said. "Louder than the other team because we wanted it.”

WHAT'S NEXT?

Middleboro will have a shot at redemption in the Div. 3 title game against the winner of No. 4 Norton and No. 9 Bishop Fenwick on the campus of UMass-Amherst (date/time TBD). Last year's opponent, No. 10 Greater New Bedford, was bested by Triton in the Sweet 16 by a 5-1 margin.

“One thing I tell them, and I focused on this once we were done with the regular season, I said, ‘Look, you’ve got five games. And your top four batters will see three to four at-bats per game,'" Sylvia said. "So, in your career, you have somewhere between 15 to 20 at-bats left. Make each one count.”

“It’s all about extending the season," Sylvia said. "The goal, we know what it is, but we used that first season they lost as motivation to play the five (tournament games) and get back to that (championship) game.

"And you know what? Let’s not leave it on the table this time. Let’s go take it.”

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Middleboro softball advances to Div. 3 Final for second straight year