By Meghan Foley
Hometown Weekly Staff
Needham softball had a 14–2 regular season record, winning their final 12 games consecutively. They earned the 11th seed and played the 22nd-seeded Methuen Rangers (10–10) in the first round of the playoffs last week.
The Rockets got off to a surprisingly slow start, down 0–3 at the end of the first inning. They kept the Rangers from scoring in the second, but let up three more runs in the third while the remaining scoreless.
Needham had an exciting fourth inning defensively. With the second Methuen batter at the plate and the first on first base, catcher Kraft spotted the Ranger attempting to steal second. Pitching the fourth inning, Kaplan ducked down as Kraft threw over her to Kirshner at second base. Kirshner caught the ball and reached down to tag the Methuen player sliding into second, and gave them their first out of the inning.
Still at bat, the second Methuen batter hit a foul ball up behind her. Kraft took off her helmet and watched the ball, running towards the boards behind the plate. Reaching over the chest-high wall, Kraft caught the ball for an unexpected and impressive second out against the Rangers. Needham fans cheered while Kaplan and Cheng ran over to congratulate her, other teammates celebrating from their positions.
Methuen’s third batter hit a difficult ball that fell to the ground inbounds and rolled along the foul line. A Needham player ran to it, grabbed it, and, while standing up, threw the ball to Gerstel at first base, but in her hurry to beat the runner threw a high pass far over Gerstel’s head. What was looking to be a costly error was remedied by Schmidt in right field. Schmidt ran up to get the ball and lasered it to Kirshner at second, where the Methuen player was sliding in. For the second time that inning, Kirshner made a critical catch, then quickly got low to tag the player before jumping back up and running to her teammates when the out was called.
The Rangers added another point to their score in the fifth for a 7–0 lead. In the sixth inning, Kirshner’s left hand appeared to get hurt after a runner crashed into it while Kirshner attempted to tag her, knocking the ball out of her glove. The game paused for a moment but Kirshner remained in the game.
A few plays later, the Rangers had loaded the bases with no outs. However, pitcher Muzikant then struck out a batter. While fans cheered, the Rockets were still in a dangerous position. Then Muzikant struck out the next batter, and teammates high-fived her before she took the mound again and threw two more strikes. With three balls and two strikes, two outs and bases loaded, Muzikant threw the final strike and ended the Rangers’ turn at bat. Kraft jumped up and took off her helmet while she and Muzikant jogged to each other and hugged.
In the bottom of the sixth, Kraft was first at bat and was walked. Cheng had a good hit deep into the outfield but it was caught. The Rockets’ next batter struck out and Muzikant was walked, putting runners on first and second. Next up, Schmidt hit a ball between second and third that two Rangers were unable to grab. Kraft ran between them from second, dodging the ball as it ran across the ground. Arriving safely at third, Kraft quickly looked back to see the third Methuen player bending down to pick up the ball, so she made the fast decision to push for home, barely pausing at third. The Rangers attempted to return the ball to home, but Kraft slid in before it got there, earning the Rockets their first point of the game. Next at bat, Stanton’s hit went to the pitcher, who beat her to first base with a pass for the Rockets’ third out.
Unfortunately, Needham was not able to make the comeback they needed, and took a 7–1 loss.
“We had a great year, we have eight seniors,” said Head Coach Jamie Nix, “[I’m] super proud of the efforts they gave us all year … we wouldn’t be anywhere without ‘em, it was just a—we ran into a tough team, we haven’t played in ten days—neither have they, but we made some mistakes and prolonged the game, but I can’t be more proud of the effort that the team gave me this year.”
Following the win, Methuen advanced to the final 16, where they were beaten by Bridgewater-Raynham Regional (6th seed) 11–2 on the 4th. On June 6th, Bridgewater-Raynham will have faced 3rd-seeded Attleboro, who were the ones to knock out the Rockets last year in the final 16. The winner of that game will earn a spot in the semifinals.
Rockets’ schedules can be accessed online at: arbiterlive.com, while power rankings and brackets can be found at miaa.net/game-day/tournament-central.
