ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Abigail Bettencourt pitched a gem in the circle for Peabody in Thursday’s win.
By MIKE ALONGI
PEABODY — The Peabody All-Star softball team has been rolling through the District 16 tournament for the past few weeks, and it all culminated in a 5-0 win over Wyoma to capture the District 16 title on Thursday evening. Peabody outscored its opponents 35-0 over the tournament, showcasing solid hitting and great pitching.
“I thought we played really well out there,” said Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt. “We stayed aggressive, we didn’t make any mistakes to help them out, and we got lucky on a few plays to help us out. And the way these girls have played over the past month, it just speaks volumes about how much they care about this and how much they want to win. This is the team that won the 9/10 year-old state title a couple years ago, and they want to get back there this year and do it again.”
The great pitching came from both sides, but Peabody’s Abigail Bettencourt got the upper hand eventually. Bettencourt tossed a complete game shutout, allowing only three hits with five strikeouts. On the offensive end for Peabody, Abigail and Isabel Bettencourt each had one RBI in the win.
For Wyoma, pitcher Lily Newhall also pitched a complete game, allowing five runs on five hits with five strikeouts. Newhall, Kaelyn Jennings and Katie Miller each had hits on the offensive side.
“It’s tough, because we’re an aggressive team and sometimes it works out and sometimes it burns you,” said Wyoma coach Jay Newhall. “We had some hits early, but we knew if we had a chance to win the game we had to take it. We just couldn’t do that tonight, but I’m still very proud of what these girls did over these past few weeks.”
The game was a classic pitcher’s duel from the start, although Wyoma was making good contact early on. Wyoma notched all three hits in the first two innings, but its trademark aggressive baserunning came back to haunt it when it got caught up in two double plays over that span of time. From there, Abigail Bettencourt locked in.
Newhall was solid on the other side, retiring nine of the first 10 batters she faced. In the bottom of the fourth, Peabody broke through.
After moving runners to second and third with two outs, Peabody scored back-to-back runs on passed balls to take a 2-0 lead.
“I think we were played a little tight when it was tied in the later innings,” Bettencourt said. “Once we got those first couple runs, I think everyone loosened up a little bit and started to hit the ball to give us some insurance runs.”
With the pressure lessened, Peabody added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Abigail Bettencourt got things started with an RBI single, then came around to score on a fielder’s choice from Reese Brinkler to make it 4-0. Isabel Bettencourt smashed an RBI double to drive in Brinkler and make it 5-0.
Wyoma gave it one final shot, getting runners to second and third in the top of the sixth, but Abigail Bettencourt struck out the final two batters she faced to seal the title.
Next for Peabody will be the sectional tournament, which starts early next week.