By Christopher Tremblay

Staff Sports Writer

Last spring the Hopedale softball team put together a great regular season going 13-6, while earning themselves a 13 seed in the State Tournament. 

After taking out McCann Tech 9-2 the Blue Raiders fell in a heartbreaker, 5-4, to number four seed Tahanto. In addition to securing a position in the post-season, Hopedale also found themselves having an impressive Dual Valley Conference (DVC) record. By going 8-1, the Blue Raiders were named league co-champions with Nipmuc, but Hopedale is looking for more this season.

“Getting to the Round of 16 was nice, but we want to go beyond that this year. We want to get a better seed this year in the State Tournament,” Hopedale Coach Jim Casey said. “Our number one goal is always to win the DVC; sharing it with Nipmuc we were proud, but we want to take it all to ourselves this year.”

With the expectations of exceeding last year’s performance, Casey and his Blue Raiders will have to go about doing it without 6 seniors, 5 of whom were starters. According to the Coach, it will be sort of a reloading year, but the team has a lot of young talent and a good group of seniors and upperclassmen who can get them over the mountain.

Hopedale will be led on the field by senior co-captains Kelsey Evans and Lizzie Brytowski. Evans will hunker down at the hot corner in the field but will use her powerful bat in the middle of the Blue Raiders lineup. The senior has a lot of RBI potential.

While Evans will be swinging a dangerous bat at the plate, Brytowski will be Casey’s number one pitcher. The senior hurler was the DVC’s pitcher of the year last spring and will primarily find herself in the circle once again for Hopedale this season. The senior pitcher can also make contact with the ball when at the plate, batting in the number three spot. Last year she led the team in just about every offensive category.

After striking out 100 batters last year, Brytowski took her total Ks to 375 for her career and is looking to top the 500 mark this spring, something that the Hopedale Coach is definite that she’ll accomplish this year.

Senior Tori Miranda will play second base and at the plate she is a slap hitter giving the Blue Raiders a dangerous leadoff hitter.

“Her on base percentage is fantastic; she’ll do whatever she needs to do to get on base,” Casey said. “Once there she is capable of stealing a base and leading this team.”

In the outfield Hopedale has two juniors in Maddie DiMaio, who will lock down one of the corners, while Mackenzie Reynolds will patrol centerfield and will also bat in the middle of the Blue Raiders lineup. Casey noted that Reynolds is an outstanding centerfielder who can cover a lot of ground with her speed.

Another junior will be Layden MacDonald, who will be the mainstay behind the plate for Hopedale this spring. Last year as a sophomore MacDonald found herself in right field for Casey, but she is transitioning nicely to catcher. The junior is a contact hitter with an aggressive bat, but she can also lay down a bunt to get on base if needed.

In being a young team, Hopedale will also employ five sophomores with only one having any starting varsity experience. Shortstop Mia Casey will be the only sophomore who has started a game for the Blue Raiders on the varsity level. The other four all found themselves playing for the junior varsity team last spring. Olivia Barroso will play one of the corners in the outfield, while also seeing action as the team’s back-up pitcher. Delaney Vaillette has speed and is a talented hitter who will also see time in the outfield and is the Blue Raiders back-up catcher. Hannah Gallerani will also be in contention for an outfield position and may see some time in the infield, while Phoebe Carroll will be at first base.

Freshman Layla Huntly will share time with Carroll at first and should find her way into the middle of the batting lineup batting fourth or fifth.

After losing five starters from last year’s squad, Casey knows that his team is on the younger side and will see seven new position starters this spring but is not worried about the girls going out and doing their jobs on the field.

“Potentially with Lizzie (in the circle) being one of the best pitchers in the area we’ll have a good chance,” the Coach said. “We have a lot of energetic talent this year; the junior bats and senior leadership will take us where we need to go and the varsity newcomers are helping to build the varsity program.”

Casey sees this year’s team as one of the best groups that he’s had; they’re all hard workers putting out positive vibes while being really good athletes to get the team moving in the right direction. If they can continue to put forth their best effort throughout the year, they should once again earn a spot in the State Tournament where they can make some noise.