The Lynnfield softball team lost to a talented Pentucket side, 10-1, Monday. Despite the loss, there were positives to take away, according to Lynnfield Coach Hector Longo.
“Pentucket is undefeated and the best team in the (Cape Ann) league,” he said.
Pentucket has “the best pitcher in the league right now,” according to Longo, in Molly LeBel. She has more than 600 strikeouts in her career.
Lynnfield lost some key players from last year’s roster. This team, however, is continuing to build chemistry each game. Longo said he was proud of how his team competed.
“We lost three very key pieces in a pitcher, center fielder, and third base,” Longo said. “We’re kind of learning as we go along here. We have two new pitchers and a lot of new faces around the field. We’re going to get better. We’re young, but I felt the girls competed OK today.”
When asked about positive takeaways, Longo spoke highly of two freshmen.
“The first two positives are my two freshmen. Angelia O’Hara had our only hit and she’s hitting .429 entering the game today. She’s going to be something special and she was 1-for-3 today,” Longo said. “My other freshman, Lilly Gately, pitched pretty well in relief today. She only allowed one run across 2.2 innings.”
Longo believes both O’Hara and Gately will develop into great players for Lynnfield.
“The freshmen have been great for us. Angelina is hitting cleanup for us and is our second-best hitter this year behind senior Morgan Hubbard. Angelina has done a great job stepping up to varsity,” Longo said. “Lilly is going to be a really good pitcher in the future. She’s taking the ball any time we need her and she already has a win. She throws a lot of strikes and she did a really good job coming in today. She got out of one jam and then worked two pretty solid innings, only giving up that one run.”
Another player Longo praised was Hubbard, who has been battling an injury, but played Monday.
“Morgan hasn’t been able to practice the last two weeks because of a hip flexor, but she is living up to the billing as a returning all-league player,” Longo said. “She solidified our defense and she hit two shots today that Pentucket unfortunately caught. We’re going to rely on her the rest of the way.”
Lynnfield looks to bounce back Wednesday when it travels to Ipswich at 3:30 p.m. Results were too late to print.
