Lady Whalers advance after extra inning classic with Provincetown
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
If you had to be anywhere on island Sunday afternoon, the place to be was the softball diamond, where the Lady Whalers advanced in state tournament play in an extra inning comeback gem that is worthy of all-time Nantucket High School status.

Maryanne Bradley is safe at third, and soon to score the tying run on a Molly Lentowski sacrifice fly.

This is what high school athletics are all about, as the gallant island team overcame a late inning deficit to tie the contest after six, and finally outlast the plucky visitors in eight innings, 4-3.

For drama, this contest will be hard to top. As for clutch performances, there were several.

Let's begin at the finish, when Lauren Fry delivered the two out single that scored Jess Guevara with the game winner. There was also the dramatic running stab behind first base by second baseman Grace Anne Tornovish, who saved further damage in the fifth inning after P-town had scored twice to take a 3-2 advantage.

There was the clutch sacrifice fly of Molly Lentowski, who drove home Maryanne Bradley with the tying run in the bottom of the sixth.

And let's not forget the true grit pitching performance of Olivia Hull, who went the distance for her ninth win of the season, and her most important victory to date.

It was the longest game of the year so far for the Lady Whalers, whose MO during their 18-0 regular season run was such domination that games were regularly called after five innings. They had faced P-town twice before this year, but as the Whalers knew, the playoffs are a whole different animal.

"All teams improve as the season goes on," Hull, who struck out seven Fishermen, said when it was over. As for pitching in the team's first extra inning contest of the year: "I didn't realize it was actually the eighth inning," the focused junior noted. "We knew it was going to be a tough match."

Indeed. Provincetown hurler Melissa Lomba was baf- fling, striking out eight in a complete game performance of her own. The fans who surrounded the field and stood several people deep were treated to a beauty in which the Whalers were ahead, then stymied, forced to rally and, finally, able to come through in the clutch and win.

"I'm getting too old for this," coach Chris Maury said in the delirium that followed. "This is the first really tough ballgame we were in. We had our backs to the wall."

It was a game where both teams kept battling back.

As they had done during the year, the Lady Whalers struck first, scoring twice in their first at bat, thanks to a Stephanie Norris single past first that brought home Lentowski and Bradley. So far, so good.

Both pitchers settled down in the second inning, and it was three up and three down for both teams. Provincetown, however, scored in the third on the strength of a triple and a ground ball out to second.

It remained 2-1 into the fifth, when P-town scored twice with two out and still threatened with a runner on first. Tornovish, however, saved the inning with her geat running catch. "That kind of woke us up," Maury said of the defensive gem, one of several Tornovish turned in on the day.

The Whalers responded by holding Provincetown scoreless. A one, two, three top of the sixth seemed to buoy the Lady Whalers, as Bradley ripped a one out double, stole third and was brought home by Lentowski's sacrifice to tie it.

P-town responded by putting its first two runners on to open the seventh inning via a walk and what was called catcher's interference when Cassie Moran's glove came in contact with the Provincetown batter. A fly ball out to Lentowski in right advanced the runners to second and third when her throw to the infield went wide of first base. Hull bore down, taking the next batter to a 3-2 count before delivering a caught-looking strikeout. Tornovish ended the inning by fielding a two-strike grounder for the out.

The Lady Whalers threatened in the bottom of the seventh, when, with two runners aboard and one out, Moran ripped a hard shot to left that, alas, was caught. The ball was hit so hard that Katie McInerney, who had started the rally with a single and stolen base, was easily caught off second. "Cassie really crushed that ball," Maury noted, shaking his head at the thought of it. "She just made a really nice catch on it."

And so it was on to extra innings. Hull was cruising now, striking out the first batter, inducing the next to ground to Tornovish and handling a soft popup herself for the third out.

The dramatic bottom of the eighth began with a walk to Guevara, followed by a Shantel Hanniford bunt that saw Guevara running all the way to third on the play. Both batter and runner were safe, and after Hanniford strode into second on a no play there were runners on second and third with no outs. But P-town's Lomba wasn't quite done yet, getting Bradley to pop out and Lentowski to strike out.

Enter Fry, who, like her teammates doesn't duck a challenge. She stroked a perfect flare over second, Guevara raced home and it was over.

Over as well are high school home games for the year. The tournament games now turn to neutral sites. As you read this, you'll know the outcome of yesterday's semi-final game at Taunton against number four seed Diman. Maury said Hull would again be on the hill, however.

For now, we'll continue to relish how sweet it was Sunday afternoon.

"I can't say enough about our defense and about Olivia," we can still hear coach Maury saying. "Olivia's worked her tail off to be as good as she is. We'll go with her as our number

one as far as we can go now." I