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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
After graduating a significant portion of their starting roster from last year’s team that went 12-8 in the regular season and made it to the Division II South quarterfinals, the Medfield High girls varsity softball team entered the 2019 season needing some new players to step up and fill in some major voids.
“The biggest thing for us to kind of figure out is that there is a strong possibility that we might have eight starters in new positions,” said head coach Travis Taliferro when asked about his team’s general vibe heading into the year. “We need to put a premium on figuring out our lineup. We lost a good portion of our starting infield and most of our outfield from last season, so we’re going to have a lot of kids stepping and thrusting into roles that we’ve coached them up to do, but its definitely going to take some adjusting.”
Three games into the season, it appears as if Taliaferro and Medfield have put together all the correct pieces, starting the year 3-0, including a 6-2 victory over arch rival Dover-Sherborn on April 3.
On the other side, DS entered the 2019 season looking to make strides in their program’s development and gave the Warriors all that they could handle on opening day.
It did not take long for Medfield to get the bats going, as Julia Farrell smacked a two-RBI single to left field with two outs in the first inning to give Medfield an early 2-0 lead.
Alana Potts got the start for Medfield, and the senior captain delivered a gem of a performance with a complete-game that featured 12 strikeouts and just six hits allowed. Sarah Bragdon also pitched a complete game for DS, striking out six and allowing 10 hits.
The Raiders were led by the bat of Riya Bahudar, who went 2-3 with a pair of singles and two RBI.
Other notable offensive performances from Medfield came from senior captain/catcher Molly Glasheen (2-4), Laura Clifford (2-4), and Potts (2-3).
For funny and incisive sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter at @fLAno0.
