Newton North’s girls softball team has swung into the season with an impressive 6-3 record.
Head coach Lauren Baugher said the players hope to continue their success through the rest of the season and into the postseason. With only four seniors, they are focusing on building skills and confidence in their young team.
“The kids have been working really hard,” said Baugher. “They’ve been learning and growing and improving every game. I’m really happy with how we’re doing so far.”
Because this season is the first for many freshmen and sophomores on the team, learning to play together has been another main focus.
“We’ve minimized the mistakes that we’ve been making,” said Baugher. “I think just sort of really focusing on defense and making sure that we’re moving runners along and bringing them in when they’re on base. It’s something we’re going to consistently work on throughout the whole year.”
Junior Ellie Fahey, the standout shortstop, is playing in her first season after being injured the last two years.
“This team is in it to win it,” she said. “We know we have the potential to be really good and we just have to kind of figure out how to work together and not just focus on ourselves and what we personally can do really well and focus on what we can do well as a team.”
To help the team improve, Baugher promotes a competitive environment.
“At every position, they’re being challenged by somebody else,” she said. “Keeping the competitiveness during practices and having kids know that no position is set, everybody has to work hard every game. With that competition, it’ll help us just become the best we can be.”
According to senior Lena Marino, a captain, the competitive environment has pushed the team to be better. “It keeps everyone on their toes, which is nice.”
The Tigers lost to Walpole on Monday, but Baugher said the game demonstrated the team’s progress and hard work.
“They are ranked second in Division Two, and they’re in our league, and we ended up losing 4-2. It was 2-1 for a long time until like the seventh inning,” she said. “I was really proud of how we played against them. They’re a really good team.”
Fahey agreed. “We battled them pretty well. They were a pretty tough team and we battled them until the very end.”
During hard games, such as the one against Walpole, the team has strategies to remain focused and play as a team.
“We have little team huddles on the bench and we try to refocus,” said Fahey. “And we also have huddles on the mound where we try to rein it back in if we had a tough inning. And try to remember what we need to focus on, which is just like, stay loose and relaxed and just like, remember what we’re here to do.”
Marino said the captains work hard to build a positive dynamic so that the players can compete at a high level while also having fun.
“My favorite thing about the team is that everyone is friends, and it’s always a positive environment,” said Marino. “Everyone has so much fun and everyone is able to challenge each other in different ways and compete for different positions. Being in a positive environment is great.”
Newton South Scores
Baseball
Walpole: 12 (11-2), Tigers: 1 (3-6)
TIgers: 3, Needham: 1 (3-6)
Lacrosse, Boys
Longmeadow: 18 (10-1), Tigers: 2 (5-5)
Walpole: 13 (8-2), Tigers: 2
Lacrosse, Girls
Wayland: 14 (6-5), Tigers: 7 (2-10)
Walpole: 18 (9-2), Tigers: 6
Needham: 9 (4-4), Tigers: 8
Softball
Tigers: 7 (6-3), Wakefield: 6 (4-6)
Walpole: 4 (10-1), Tigers: 2
Needham: 10 (5-4), Tigers: 4
Tennis, Boys
Tigers: 5 (7-0), Walpole: 0 (4-5)
Tigers: 5, Braintree: 0 (2-5)
Tigers: 4, Needham: 1 (6-4)
Tennis, Girls
Tigers: 5 (6-2), Walpole: 0 (2-6)
Tigers: 3, Braintree: 2 (4-4)
Tigers: 3, Needham: 2 (6-2)
Track and Field, Boys
Tigers: 103 (3-0), Framingham: 33 (0-3)
Track and Field, Girls
Tigers: 91 (3-0), Framingham: 41 (0-3)
Ultimate Frisbee, Boys
Tigers: 15 (3-3), Lions: 1 (0-1)
Sharon: 15 (2-0), Tigers: 6
Ultimate Frisbee, Girls
Tigers: 13 (7-0), Arlington: 4
Tigers: 15, Needham: 1 (1-3)
Tigers: 13, Somerville: 2 (1-3)
Volleyball, Boys
Brookline: 3 (6-3), Tigers: 1 (8-2)
Tigers: 3 Walpole: 0 (0-7)
Tigers: 3, Wellesley: 0 (5-6)