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Students of the game: Softball team off to strong start

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The Whitman-Hanson Regional High softball team is off to a strong start this season.

While some are labeling last spring as a “lost season,” it was anything but for the Whitman-Hanson Regional High softball team.

“The girls took the year off as a learning curve for them,” said second-year head coach Jordan McDermott. “They sat down, really studied the game, learned the game.”

How so?

“They were able to sit back and watch games on YouTube,” McDermott said. “There were some links I sent the captains and said, ‘Girls, for next year, you really should sit down and watch these.’ There were also a bunch of conferences that were free online. They took the time and dissected their swing. They worked all offseason.”

And the results have shown that.

Entering Wednesday, the Panthers are off to a 5-3 start. Their most impressive win was a 10-6 comeback victory over eight-time defending Patriot League Keenan Division champion Silver Lake.

W-H has also taken down league foes Duxbury (5-4 and then 16-0) and Marshfield (8-7 in eight innings) and shut out non-league rival East Bridgewater, 12-0. The Panthers have plated 64 runs in their first eight games.

Here’s the scary part for the rest of the league: McDermott believes the Panthers’ offense can reach an even higher level.

“We’ll never settle,” she said. “The girls are very hungry this year so I think we’re just going to keep it going. Our goals are to get ’em on, get ’em over and get ’em home.”

Sophomore Allison Larkin leads the Panthers with four home runs, while classmates Olivia Turocy and Lauryn Meade have hit one. Senior captains Emily McDonald and Abby Cleary have also gone deep.

On the hill, Meade has been just as impressive. She fired a no-hitter against East Bridgewater in her first career varsity start. Meade has 37 strikeouts in 35 innings this spring.

“Lauryn is just a tough kid,” McDermott said. “She’s different. On the mound, she has tunnel vision. She knows the game, she knows her spots and she hits them.”

McDermott said Meade’s emergence has also taken some of the pressure of Cleary, who tossed 173 innings over her freshman and sophomore years. Cleary picked up the win against Duxbury in the opener, hurling a complete game, and then shut the Dragons out the second time around. 

“It’s a huge release for Abby,” McDermott said. “She was so needed. Now she can enjoy her senior season.”

W-H is back in action on Monday, May 24 at 4 p.m. against Silver Lake.

“I always tell the girls that I don’t have any pressure on them,” McDermott said. “At the end of the day, it’s a game. It is what it is. If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose. We focus on the negatives, we bring them into practice and we fix our mistakes. We learn from it and we plug away for the next game.”

Dealing with a delayed spring sports season at Whitman-Hanson

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The spring sports season is delayed until at least May 4.

For the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ tennis team, optimism was high — and rightfully so — as it looked toward this spring.

The Panthers are set to return all 18 players from last year’s team that won its first tournament game in program history.

Now, the girls’ tennis team, like the rest of the clubs, is grappling with a delayed start to the spring due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We were looking forward to our best season thus far,” said girls’ tennis head coach Sue Sookiasian. “Coach (Sue) Moss and I are keeping the faith that we will be able to have some sort of an abbreviated season.”

This spring is also key for the boys’ lacrosse team, but for the opposite  reason. The Panthers are tasked with making up for the loss of 10 seniors. Five of those seniors combined for 112 goals, one was its Patriot League All-Star starting goaltender and another was a captain on defense.

“It’s definitely tough because I would have liked to get a full season in to develop the younger guys because the majority of starters last year were seniors,”  said boys’ lacrosse head coach Tyler Sabens. “I’m hopeful that we’ll have a spring season even if it’s short.”

If all goes as planned and there are no further setbacks, that short spring season will get underway on May 4 with tryouts. Games will get underway about a week later, according to athletic director Bob Rodgers. 

Baseball skipper Pat Cronin, who started coaching 47 years ago, has never seen anything like this, but he understands the delay is necessary. 

“[I] Feel for the kids, of course,” Cronin said. “The seniors are in their final year and will be unable to ever get back the time missed. While virtually my entire life has been centered about the classroom and athletic fields, missing a season or part of a season is a small price to pay if we can help to save lives.”

Head girls’ lacrosse coach AC Decker, who was hired last offseason, is possibly facing his first spring without picking up a stick since he was introduced to the sport back in 1975. 

“The girls are devastated, especially the seniors,” Decker said. “I can tell that there were many players who were very prepared and ready for the season. The captains, Marissa Connell and Riley Bina (sitting at 92 career goals), organized teams for indoor leagues and kept the players motivated.

“Going into my second year, I felt much better prepared. We were hosting a small preseason jamboree, and I was able to set my schedule this year.”

Josh Lopes is set to enter his first spring at the helm of the boys’ tennis team. He doesn’t think the season will actually happen — and if it does — he won’t have a good feeling going in. 

“I don’t know much about the team at all, especially what the experience levels are,” Lopes said. “Quite a few are first-year players. I had met with anyone interested in playing but it does feel like we are going into the season essentially blind. I don’t really know what to expect in terms of ability and players. It was actually part of the excitement for me, thinking about what the possibilities could be.”

Steve George, the girls’ outdoor track head coach, noted it’s frustrating not being able to communicate with his athletes about potential practices and workouts because of a strict MIAA policy that states, “A coach may not directly or indirectly require an athlete to participate in a sport or a training program outside of the MIAA defined sport season.”

“This pandemic has created an immensely frustrating time for me as a coach,” George said. “I’m literally isolated from the athletes, but in addition there are rules placing limitations on what we can discuss or suggest out of season.”

With that said, he is immensely concerned about his athletes getting hurt if the season ends up getting underway.

“I have a growing concern about injury, if and when we do return,” he said. “Accelerating training would increase that likelihood, and the MIAA will proceed with caution to ensure adequate practices take place prior to competition. But many of the athletes will not want to hold back, despite a lengthy period of inactivity and that could be disastrous. My job is to keep them healthy and safe and that is how I intend to proceed.”

Boys’ outdoor track head coach Stephen Schlicting tries to post a tweet each day to keep in touch with his athletes, but he knows it’s not the same as seeing their faces. 

“It seems like a long time since I’ve seen the team,” said Schlicting, who also coaches the boy’s indoor track team. “I’m hoping we have this thing beat by May 4. We had a very good group this past winter, and I’m looking forward to the others who will join and start next month.”

Softball head coach Jordan McDermott has been doing her best to keep her players’ spirits up. 

“I did do a challenge for a week with the girls where I gave them a challenge and they had the option to do something,” McDermott explained. “I loved how I made it not only for the softball girls but for all those who follow my account; it was pretty cool to see other girls from other schools and towns get involved. I go live here and there on my account and try to check in on the student-athletes. My goal is to keep the girls engaged, active and optimistic.”

One thing is certain: each coach is devastated for their senior(s). 

A triple threat: Codero a 3-sport standout at Whitman-Hanson

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Codero dribbles the ball. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Since she was a freshman, all Reese Codero has ever known is being on the varsity team— in three sports.

Reese Codero’s refrigerator at home is littered with magnets. It’s what happens when you‘re a three-sport athlete.

But not only is the Whitman-Hanson Regional High junior a three-sport athlete, but she’s a three-sport varsity athlete, and she has been since her freshman year. That’s rare.

“I like it because it’s three different groups of girls I get to see each season,” Codero said. “I really like seeing different faces.”

Codero is a goalie on the soccer team, a point guard for the basketball team and a shortstop in softball. While Codero doesn’t have an offseason, she doesn’t need one because each sport prepares her for the next.

“With soccer, you see everything, so I feel like that helps me with basketball because when I’m setting up the offense I can see everyone, and obviously the hand-eye coordination is big,” Codero said. “And with soccer you’re moving laterally a lot. I feel like that helps with softball and even playing defense in basketball.”

“And I’m always sacrificing my body,” Codero added with a laugh. “The turf — I’ve grown an immunity to it so now the hardwood has no effect on me, and then going on to the dirt — it’s even better.”

That sacrifice is something first-year W-H girls’ basketball head coach Mike Costa noticed immediately.

“She’ll run through a wall for you,” Costa said. “She puts her body on the line.”

She’s always had the drive, but she’s developed the skill this winter as well, emerging as the tournament-bound Panthers’ starting point guard.

“She is probably our best ball handler with the guards,” Costa said. “I just feel comfortable with her with the ball in her hands and calling any play she sees. She’s good at seeing the game, so I trust her. She is going to be a big part of what we do moving forward the rest of the season.”

In the fall, she was part of a goalie tandem that helped the girls’ soccer team to a 15-1-2 regular season, winning the Patriot League Keenan Division title. Next season, she’ll serve as a captain.

Codero makes a save in soccer. / Photo by: Sue Moss

“Reese is a rare athlete these days; one who excels in three different sports,” said W-H girls’ soccer head coach David Floeck. “She has improved every year and I think that the skills required for her as a goalkeeper are reinforced with the other sports she plays. As a young lady, she is a leader and well respected by all her teammates. She is a top-notch kid and a talented athlete.”

This spring will be Codero’s third as the softball team’s starting shortstop. W-H skipper Jordan McDermott also raved about her leadership and attitude.

“Reese brings a lot of toughness to the Whitman-Hanson programs that she is involved in,” McDermott said. “I enjoy watching her teammates look up to her, but what I enjoy most is seeing the youth players in Whitman and Hanson support her and be her biggest fans — other than her family.

“She is never one to ask about her personal stats, but about the team stats. She’s never one to drop her body language when she makes a mistake or when a teammate makes a mistake. She is what being a student-athlete is all about.”

Codero fields the ball at shortstop. / Photo by: Sue Moss

So how does Codero juggle being a three-sport athlete with school?

“Time management is a big thing,” she said. “Obviously, studies come first, and I think I do a pretty good job of managing my time, making sure I get my homework done before I come to practice, staying after school if I need extra help. If you have time management, it’s really easy to balance.”

And it’s that sort of life lesson that Codero said she appreciates the most about playing high school sports.

“There’s big wins, there’s how to balance your time with school and there’s preparing you for college,” she said. “It’s really got everything.”

Season Review: Fine-tuning for softball’s future

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Photo by: Sue Moss

Working out the kinks was key for the softball team.

After a 10-0 loss to Hanover dropped the Whitman-Hanson Regional High softball team to 1-5 on the season, first-year skipper Jordan McDermott realized changes had to be made. So, she held a lengthy team meeting and made some tweaks.

“We extended our practice hours, we made sure that we were hitting more and made sure we were doing more defensive and offensive drills,” she explained.

It worked. The young Panthers, who started just one senior, swept the following week, posting wins over Quincy (11-6), Hingham (8-3) and Pembroke (6-4).

“I think in the beginning of the season we were still trying to work out some of the kinks,” McDermott said. “We had tryouts and then two weeks later we had our first game, so I don’t think we were getting enough reps. We didn’t really know exactly what to practice because we weren’t in a game yet.”

But the Panthers’ tough schedule and youth caught up to them. The Panthers, whose seven best hitters were freshmen, sophomores and juniors and lone two pitchers were a freshman and sophomore, dropped their next six en route to a 7-13 campaign.

“I think overall the season went the way we wanted it to in terms of team building a program and setting small goals for us,” McDermott said. “They all had a purpose on that field. The whole theme of the season was that you have a purpose and you have quite confidence.”

Two players who exhibited that quite confidence were freshmen Annie Cook and Erin Burke. A league all-star at third base, Cook led the team in steals (seven), was second in hits (21), tied for third in runs (11) and fourth in average (.344) and on-base percentage (.397). Burke pitched to the tune of a 3.36 ERA over 50 innings of work, while smacking a pair of doubles at the plate.

“Their poise makes them special,” McDermott explained. “They’re very calm, very simple, very hardworking athletes. They’re very poised. They know a lot about the game. They’re both confident but not cocky and hardworking kids.”

At second base, junior Victoria Ryan was the Panthers’ other Patriot League All-Star. She paced the team in average (.390), hits (23), home runs (two) and was third in on-base percentage (.419).

“She is a confident player, she’s not cocky,” McDermott said. “She flew under the radar, but she was still known for making great plays or getting those hits to get us back in the game. She is confident in the box that she’s going to get that job done.”

Sophomore Emily McDonald was the team’s MVP, after scoring a team-high 13 runs, leading the club with a .448 on-base percentage and ranking second in average at .373. She had 12 hits, scored nine runs and had five RBIs in Panthers wins.

“The thing about Emily is that she always has a very not-going-to-give-up attitude,” McDermott explained. “She is always willing to grow as a player. She always has a smile on her face. On the field, she has a great eye. She is very quick to a lot of the balls, too. A lot of the times I had no idea how she was able to catch that. She is one of the most scrappy players I’ve coached.”

Flanking McDonald to her left in the outfield was Sophia Molinari. The junior hit .347 with 17 hits and seven RBIs, but it was her defense that set her apart.

“Plymouth South was probably the game where she finally realized how to read the batter and how to track the ball better off the bat,” McDermott explained. “In the beginning of the season I was the one positioning the outfielder, and then one day we were at Plymouth South and one of their batters had a swing and Sophia changed the whole outfield without me having to do it.”

McDermott said there is a silver lining of being infused with so much youth, especially for her.

“I think the benefit is that I am able to build the program with the younger kids and make it my team, my group of girls,” she said. “It really started with Annie and Erin and hopefully I can get some more freshmen and sophomores.”

The youngest of three, freshman Annie Cook carrying on her siblings’ legacy

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Photo by: Sue Moss

Freshman Annie Cook is continuing her siblings’ success on the dimaond.

After a brief meeting in left field at the conclusion of her game last week, Annie Cook, a freshman on the Whitman-Hanson Regional High softball team, didn’t waste any time.

She hurried into the dugout, placed her bat, glove and helmet into her bag, and trekked a diamond over — to the baseball field that is, to catch the final out of her brother Mike Cook’s game. A senior and four-year varsity player, three-year starter at second base and two-time Patriot League All-Star for the Panthers, Mike is in the midst of another All-Star season, hitting at a .356 clip. Since being inserted into the lineup every day, Mike, who is headed to play baseball at Babson College next season, has never hit below .300 (.302 as a sophomore and .394 as a junior).

Before Mike, it was Emily Cook, the elder of the three siblings. A four-year starter at six different positions for the softball team, Emily capped her career as a .424 batter after hitting .471 her senior campaign.

“I’ve always had high expectations from them,” Annie said. “They’ve always been really, really good athletes and really good scholars and stuff like that so I’ve always tried to hold myself up to their standards and try my best to be like them.”

Annie said her sister Emily is her biggest role model.

“She’s helped me a lot,” Annie said. “She’s always helped me for what to expect and how to pick myself up after a game. She just always said to play your heart out and do your best and you’ll do good.”

And do good is what she’s done. Annie is well on her way to making her own name for herself. The Panthers’ starter at the hot corner and leadoff hitter, Annie finished third on the team with a .444 average and .394 OBP and was tabbed a league all-star in just her first year.

“I knew right off the bat that I wanted her to lead off for us,” said W-H softball head coach Jordan McDermott. “Somehow she’s always able to get on. She’s got a solid swing and when she makes contact that ball is hit hard.”

Photo by: Sue Moss

Annie posted eight multi-hit games and McDermott said it’s her determination that sets her apart.

“She is always working hard to be better and be the best,” said the coach. “She can be hard on herself and has amazing self-discipline. I have seen her grow into being a loose and collected player.”

Annie Cook and head coach Jordan McDermott / Photo by: Sue Moss

Annie agreed that she’s grown a lot – especially mentally from the days when she was the one sitting behind the fence watching her sister take hacks in the batter’s box.

“I was nervous to get up here, but now that I’m older I’m ready to play these teams,” she said.

Annie said her goals for the offseason and rest of school year are to continue doing what got her to this point.

“I’ll keep working on my hitting,” she said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do my best.”

Season Preview: Softball team, new coach ready to go

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The softball team is under new management.

After spending the three years as the head softball coach at Massasoit before the program folded, Jordan McDermott was ready to take the year off.

Between training to run the Boston Marathon, which happens Monday, studying for her educator license and spending time with her 1-year-old nephew, she was pretty busy. Then the softball job unexpectedly opened up at Whitman-Hanson Regional High in the first week of March. She applied.

“I said to myself, ‘If I don’t get it, I don’t get it,’” said McDermott of applying.

Well, she got it, and she’s excited to dip her toes into high school softball.

“I think, high school is just a better sit for me because I have more dedicated girls and the talent is much better,” said McDermott, a para professional at Indian Head Elementary School in Hanson.

“I’m just able to mesh better with high school athletes.”

McDermott said two of her best attributes as a coach are her athleticism and youth.

“I am able to just jump in the drills with the girls and show them how to do it correctly,” she said. “A lot of these kids nowadays, they’re digital learners. So being able to have a coach who stands on with that and can jump in a drill and show them the correct way to execute a play or the correct way to slide into a base just makes me a better. I’m asking them to do quicker and get it done correctly.”

McDermott takes over a young squad that posted a seven-win season last spring under Jenna Olem, despite its ace Colleen Hughes, now playing at Westfield State, throwing just three innings due to injury.

The injury thrust then-freshman Abby Cleary into the ace role, and she hurled 94 1/3 innings. She’ll lead the staff again this season.

“She just has an excellent poker face when she’s on the mound,” McDermott said. “She shows emotion but she’s game face, game ready. She likes her role and is ready to do what she has to”.

Senior captain Kayla Crawford will be Cleary’s battery mate for the second straight season.

“She knows the program and she knows what’s expected,” McDermott said. “She knows what they’re all capable of doing. She leads by example – on and off the field. She knows the game the very well.”

A Patriot League All-Star last season, junior captain Victoria Ryan is the top bat returning. The second baseman hit a team-high .382 with two home runs and 12 RBIs.

“Victoria brings a lot to then team,” McDermott said. “She is someone who is the first one to make sure that a teammate is situated. She is the first one to put her hand on their back.”

Sophomore shortstop Reese Codero also returns as a starter. She hit .377 last spring and drove in 10 runs. Freshman Annie Cook (third base) and junior Kaylee Corbett (first base) will round out the infield.

Sophomore Emily McDonald will roam left field with junior Sophia Molinari in center and sophomore Ella Scriven flanking her in right.

“They’re just a great group of girls,” McDermott said. “I’m very lucky and very fortunate. These girls are going to have a fantastic season, I can feel it.”

The Panthers will be back in action Thursday, April 11 at 3:30 p.m. at Plymouth South.

“I just want to figure out any kinks, that we have,” McDermott said. “If I have to switch the starting nine, I have to. I see a couple of the games where I think we’re going to do very well. There’s another few games that I think that we may struggle, but it’s all mental to them.

“We’re just going to see what happens, hope we get a few wins and that’ll set the tone for the season for sure.”

Jenna Olem out as girls’ basketball and softball head coach at Whitman-Hanson

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Veteran Whitman-Hanson Regional High two-sport head coach Jenna Olem announced yesterday she will not be returning to the school for the upcoming softball campaign and is done coaching the girls’ basketball team as well.

“I am almost overwhelmed from everything I learned from so many different people, about coaching, about relationships, about life,” Olem wrote in a tweet. “Although my time coaching at W-H has come to an end, I am confident I will take all of these experiences with me.”

The reason for her departure can only be speculated, but W-H athletic director Bob Rodgers told the Express she resigned yesterday.

“We appreciate everything Jenna has done for our school, and I enjoyed watching her grow as a coach during her time at Whitman-Hanson,” Rodgers said.

Olem took the reins of both the girls’ basketball and softball teams in the 2013 school year. She had the softball team in the tournament that year, and took the basketball team to the playoffs the following season. Overall, she compiled 120 wins combined as the coach of both sports.

This past season was perhaps her best yet at the helm of the basketball team, taking a team that lost league all-star, co-captain and starting point guard Erin Leahy 15 minutes into the first practice and going 12-10 on the season. The Panthers entered the tournament as the 11 seed and hung with sixth-seeded Mansfield, before falling 45-41.

W-H played the roll of underdog often during Olem’s tenure, but always seemed to thrive. In 2015, her softball team stunned Bridgewater-Raynham (18-2 at the time), 4-1, in the first round.

Coaches from all around took to Twitter in the wake of Olem’s departure:

The softball season gets underway in less than two weeks.

Season Review: Youth decks diamond this spring for softball

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Photo by: Sue Moss

The young Panthers softball team finished the year at 7-13.

It was an infusion of youth on the diamond this spring for the Whitman-Hanson Regional High softball team.

On some occasions, the Panthers had as many as six freshmen and sophomores penned into their lineup and manning pivotal positions en route to a 7-13 record.

In all, W-H worked in a half-dozen new starters while junior Kayla Crawford was converted from second base to catcher.

The Panthers did most of their business this spring without their senior captain, top returning bat and ace — all combined into one — Colleen Hughes, who hurt her patella in the third inning of the season opener, which forced her to miss the next 15 games. Hughes, a three-year starter and the team’s MVP and a Patriot League All-Star the last two seasons, entered the spring having hurled 106 of 133.2 innings last season while hitting a team-high .486 with 25 RBIs.

“She was one of the best hitters on the South Shore, in my opinion, over the course of her career,” fifth-year Panthers skipper Jenna Olem said. “No one took the injury harder than [Colleen], but she stayed so positive and became such a strong leader and even a secondary coach at practice and on the bench. She started every game for me up until this year, and picked up pitching her sophomore year out of necessity.”

Hughes returned with four games remaining and hit .467 while manning left field. However, her absence left two glaring needs: innings to be logged and runs to be driven in.

Stepping up on the bump in a big way was freshman Abby Cleary. Cleary tossed 94.1 of W-H’s 125.1 innings and collected five wins. Her finest outing came May 2 on the road against Quincy, as she went the distance and two-hit the Presidents in a 2-1 victory.

 “At first I was going to have [her and Colleen] split starts and go from there, but obviously, a lot more was put on Abby’s plate when Colleen went down,” Olem said. “When she was on and able to limit walks she got herself into a really nice groove.

“Abby has a pretty steady presence on the mound. She was able to get herself out of multiple jams this year which is a good sign going forward. I believe if she can increase her velocity and hit her spots a little better she is going to take a big leap as our ace next year.”

HOT BATS

Shining offensively were most notably senior Hailey Norris and sophomore Victoria Ryan. Both were tabbed league all-stars.

Norris hit a team-high .418, knocked in a team-high 15 runs, crossed the plate a team-high 18 times and led the team with seven steals.

“Hailey Norris has been on the varsity since her sophomore year,” Olem said. “Last year, she solidified her role as our starting third basemen and this year her offense really took off. Her batting average from last year (.200) to this year shows the huge leap she took. She also limited her strike outs from 15 last season to just three all year. Hailey always was capable of hitting for power, but bailed us out consistently this year.”

Ryan hit .382 with 12 RBIs and 13 runs scored.

“She looked real good in the cage from the onset of the season and [I] thought she was going to be able to handle varsity pitching just fine,” Olem said. “She did just that, and I only expect her to improve as she becomes a junior next year.”

Also, proving to be a catalyst for the Panthers’ offense was freshman Reese Codero, who hit at a .377 clip and scored 13 runs. Codero also had 68 putouts from her post at shortstop.

TALENT TELLS

“A lot of the things she does on the field are just from raw athleticism,” Olem said. “Reese improved so much over the season. For anyone, it is an adjustment to catch to varsity pitching and to try to eliminate some bad habits, but she is quite the competitor and chipped away and started to really improve with her approach at the plate (taking pitches that were out of the zone, fouling off 0-2 counts, etc.).

“Defensively, Reese is really solid. I think by the end of her career she will be an all-star and one of best shortstops in league.”

Also, catching Olem’s eye were two of Codero’s classmates — Emily McDonald and Kaitlyn McNaught.

“Emily is also another really athletic kid,” Olem said. “She started in the outfield for us and also got some good experience behind the plate. Her speed on the bases next year, along with Reese, and freshman Kait McNaught (mostly used as a DH), will definitely be a good thing to have.”

COMING BACK

Crawford, who is also set to return next season, was fourth on the team with a .431 on-base percentage.

Olem said the highlight of the season came May 10 against Hingham.

“We were still trying to stay afloat [and] it was a must-win game by my standards,” she explained. “We jumped out to a 1-0 lead [and] then gave up six in the first inning. Our offense couldn’t do anything until the fourth inning when we blew it up. We ended up winning 15-6. Abby didn’t allow a run after the first.”

The resiliency shown set the bar for the future and was a flash of what is to come for the young W-H softball team.

“They definitely showed glimpses of potential and how good they could be when they put it all together,” Olem said. “Whether it was for a few innings or a few games, we did a lot of good things this year despite our record.”

Sister act on the diamond: Colleen Hughes to join sister Caitlin at Westfield State

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Colleen Hughes attended accepted students day at Westfield State on Tuesday, April 3. / Courtesy photo: Michelle Hughes

Whitman-Hanson Regional High senior Colleen Hughes will play softball with her sister Caitlin next season at Westfield State University.

Colleen Hughes could not pass up the opportunity to play with her sister for one more season.

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High senior will join her sister Caitlin on the diamond as a member of the Westfield State University softball team next year.

“She played a pretty big part in me going there,” Colleen said of the elder Hughes who is one of the Owls catchers. “She plays softball as well so I thought it gave me a great opportunity to play with her. She’s a great role model to look up to and it will be a good transition into college just to start out.”

This will not be the first time the two siblings will share the same field together. They were starters on the W-H softball team in 2015 that stunned defending state champion Bridgewater-Raynham, 4-1, in the opening round of the Division 1 South Sectional tournament. Caitlin, a then-senior captain, caught the entire game and had a key RBI. Colleen, a freshman at the time, roamed left field.

“She was a very good role model to look up to,” Colleen said. “She had a really big impact on the team, so it was awesome to play with her.”

Caitlin concluded her Panthers career as a four-year letter winner, and Colleen is in line to reach that feat as well. The younger Hughes has started every game since her freshman campaign. Last season Colleen led W-H by hitting at a .486 clip with four home runs and 25 runs batted in en route to being tabbed the team MVP and a Patriot League All-Star for the second straight year. In Caitlin’s final season with the Panthers, she hit .446 and knocked in 26 runs.

Fifth-year W-H head coach Jenna Olem sees the similarity with their approach at the plate. “The way they attack the ball in the box is really something special,” Olem said. “Colleen is such a strong, powerful hitter, so that’s nice to have in the lineup. It seems almost every time she gets up, she’s gonna have a big hit for us.”

Not only does Colleen power the Panthers with her bat, but she leads with her arm as well. Last season she took over as their ace and hurled 106 of their 133.2 innings. She collected eight wins in the process to help guide W-H back to the tournament for the first time since that 2015 season. Colleen, despite all the frames tossed, is still fairly new to the position.

“She just took up pitching a few years ago and that’s just a testament to her ability as an athlete, as a competitor, to do whatever she can to help the team,” Olem said.

Colleen added that it was a difficult adjustment to begin with, but rewarding in the end.

“It was hard at first,” Colleen, who boasts a 4.3 GPA and is a member of the Science National Honor Society and National Honor Society, explained. “I did pitching lessons all summer and fall so it was a hard work up to it but it’s definitely worth it.”

This season Colleen will also captain the Panthers — a role she served in for the field hockey team during the fall and the girls’ hockey team in the winter.

“She has always had this tremendous work ethic,” Olem said. “She takes every drill seriously and competes as hard as possible no matter the circumstance. Colleen really showed her ability to lead last year just with her calmness at the plate and her ability to come through with a big hit. Also, regardless of how her pitching outing was going she was always standing, cheering, and letting her teammates know she had their backs. Everyone looks to Colleen as sort of a role model because of her approach to the game and her understanding of the game.”

Colleen’s senior season will get underway Monday, April 9 at 4 p.m. when the Panthers travel to Pembroke.

“My goal this year is to just improve as a player and improve my hitting before I take my next step to college,” Colleen said.

Season Preview: Panther softball team aims to stay competitive

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The Whitman-Hanson Regional High softball team is aiming to reach the .500 mark, but has some major shoes to fill.

Assembling the starting nine for this season’s Whitman-Hanson Regional High softball team will be much like a puzzle for fifth-year head coach Jenna Olem.

The Panthers are down four integral pieces from last spring’s team that went 11-10 and returned to the postseason, where it lost 8-0 to North Attleboro in the first round of the Division 1 South Sectional tournament. The quartet — which featured catcher Kristin Arthur, first baseman Kelly Burke, shortstop Emily Cook and center fielder Sarah Saccardo — were all senior captains and four-year varsity players.

Arthur, a three-year starter, hit .397, scored 19 times and collected 14 RBIs. Burke, a two-year starter, posted a .338/.400/.412 slash line and drove in 13 runs. Cook, a four-year starter, hit .452, knocked in 13 runs and crossed the plate a co-team-leading 24 times. Saccardo, also a four-year starter, scored 24 runs, hit at a .459 clip and produced eight RBIs.

“They kind of jumped in [and] set the tone to try and build this program,” Olem said.

Cook and Saccardo accounted for two of the three W-H Patriot League All-Star selections from last season. The other: current senior captain Colleen Hughes.

“Now we’ve got [Colleen Hughes] that’s trying to carry that on from the 2015 team that beat [Bridgewater-Raynham] (in the first round of the Division 1 South Sectional tournament), so this season is about trying to get Colleen’s season to go full circle, put the best players around her and do the best we can in our league,” Olem said.

Hughes, without a doubt, is going to be relied upon heavily this season, and with good reason. Last spring, she hit a team-high .486, belted a team-high four home runs and drove in a team-high 25 runs, while also serving as the Panthers’ ace, a capacity where she collected eight wins.

TRANSITIONS

Junior Kayla Crawford will be Hughes’ battery mate as she makes the transition from second base to a fulltime catcher.

“She got a lot of action at the end of last season,” Olem said. “She’s very, very solid and confident back there.”

Freshman Abby Cleary is the likely candidate to slot into the No. 2 spot in the rotation behind Hughes, who hurled 106 of the Panthers’ 133.2 frames played last season.

“[Colleen] threw a ton of innings last year and I think she was really fatigued by the end of it,” Olem said. “Hopefully Abby can step up and take some pressure off of [Colleen] so it’s not going to be all on her shoulders every day and we can kind of use her on the field.”

Senior captain Julia Donavan will also return for her third season in left field and classmate Hailey Norris will be back at third base for the third consecutive spring. Olem said the remaining five spots on the diamond (first base, second base, short stop, center field and right field) are up for grabs.

“It’s really how it plays out,” Olem said. “I’ve got a lot of competition. Hopefully we get some people who are going to push some people and get them a little bit better.”

Olem added that as much as she would like her team, which features eight new varsity players, to make the tournament, this season is going to be centered a great deal around development.

“We’re gonna see if we can get it to .500, squeeze out a couple of wins, beat the teams that we should, but it’s so unpredictable because we have so many spots to fill, but as long as we finish the season better than we start, that’s really all I care about,” Olem said.

The Panthers are scheduled to open their slate of games at home Wednesday, April 4 at 4 p.m. against Milton.

“It’s always a big thing to win on opening day and set the tone,” Olem explained. “I’m probably going to have a lot of young kids in my lineup and to not be nervous and just play like how they’ve been showing the last few weeks and hopefully we can go from there — build off of something.”