Courtesy photoThe W-H 14U girls’ softball team won the Halifax Summer Smash tournament.
Resilient and gritty.
The Whitman-Hanson 14U girls’ summer softball team was the epitome of both Sunday, Aug. 4.
The team entered the final day of the Halifax Summer Smash tournament with a daunting task: win four straight. It sat at 0-2-1 and seventh out of 10 teams after two days of pool play on Friday and Saturday. That didn’t matter.
W-H kicked off Sunday with a 10-6 victory over Hingham, sparked by key contributions from Makenna Kirschner and Ali Larkin at the plate.
Sparked by a nine-strikeout gem from Lauryn Meade, W-H shut out Norwell in Game No. 2, 12-0. Taryn Leonard (three hits) set the tone with a first-pitch home run.
In the third game of the day, W-H silenced Quincy, 6-0. Meade starred in the pitcher’s circle with 10 strikeouts to collect the win.
In the championship game against Attleboro, Meade struck out eight and Haley Leeber paced the offense with three hits.
Meade finished the day 3-0 with 27 strikeouts in 18 innings, while Leonard and Jesse Blyth had seven hits apiece to lead the offense. Kayden Lynch caught all 24 innings, while adding six hits.
“I have coached Whitman-Hanson softball for 10 years and this will be the most memorable day of coaching softball for me,” said coach Tim Young. “This was a team effort from player one to player 11.”