WORCESTER — She may not look intimidating in the circle, but Mackenzie Phillips’ postseason numbers are downright scary.
Phillips, whose two-hit shutout Saturday helped Turners Falls High School beat Austin Preparatory School, 2-0, for the Indians’ second consecutive MIAA Division III state softball championship, had arguably the best overall postseason performance in history for any area pitcher.
Phillips pitched all 35 innings during Turners’ five-game run to the crown and piled up some eye-catching numbers. Among them:
• 15 hits allowed, including one extra-base hit (a double by Mt. Everett’s Kearsten Cutlip);
• one earned run (two in all), for a 0.20 earned-run average;
• 57 strikeouts and one walk (that to Pioneer Valley Regional School’s Lizzie Fuller);
• no walks during her final 32 innings and 112 batters faced;
• 65 percent first-pitch strikes, and 73 percent of all pitches for strikes;
• held opponents to a .126 batting average.
It’s ironic that Phillips ended her high school softball career in the same city where she’ll begin her college career in the fall — she’s heading to WPI to play for 2009 UMass graduate Whitney (Mollica) Goldstein, who has led the Engineers to 30 or more wins in each of her first three seasons.
What makes Phillips even more exceptional is her humble attitude and willingness to hold herself accountable for mistakes, according to Indians head coach Gary Mullins.
“One game a little fly ball went into right field and our girl dropped it. She comes off the mound and is ticked. So I went out and told her, ‘Relax. Everyone makes mistakes.’ and she said, ‘I’m not mad at her, I’m mad at me. I shouldn’t have given her a pitch to hit.’ You don’t find kids like that, who take responsibility.”
“Once in a while she’ll get mad at me for calling the wrong pitch, and I tell her, ‘Put it in the right location and it’ll work,’” he said with a laugh. “She’s just a super kid.”
Mullins, the state record holder for softball wins (645), is never at a loss for finding humor during a game or an interview.
Holding court with the media afterward while holding a bottle of soda, a reporter noticed the label had a saying printed on it that read, “All I do is win.”
When asked about it, Mullins modestly said, “It probably should read ‘all they do is win.’ I have very little to do with it.”
When jokingly queried if Phillips’ name was printed on the opposite side of the label, Mullins laughed and said, “No, but it will tomorrow.”
Phillips, on winning back-to-back titles: “It’s awesome, I’m so happy we did it, especially (my) junior and senior year. When I started playing on varsity, my dad at one time said, ‘It would be awesome if you could win states your junior and senior year,’ and I never thought that was something that would happen, but it’s cool that you can work for something and it happens.”
Mullins was impressed with Austin Prep pitcher Logan MacDonald: “She threw extremely well, and she’s only a sophomore, so they’re going to have some fun (the next two years).”
Putala, unplugged: Senior second baseman Jenna Putala was surprised that her RBI double was the only hit the Indians could manage off MacDonald.
“She was throwing really well. I don’t know why we couldn’t hit her,” she said. “She wasn’t overpowering or anything. She kind of throws like (Turners backup) Peyton Emery. It’s slow but then it just pops, and I think that’s what was throwing everyone off.”
On tying Bishop Fenwick for most state softball titles: “It’s just crazy. I remember we had a game at Hopkins. After we won, I was talking to Elysia Ollari and I said, “I’m not used to winning this many games,” and she said, “We win here at Turners Falls, just remember that.”
On keeping a team-first approach: “It’s a team effort. That one hit didn’t (win) this game. We had Mac, we had Cassidhe making plays in the field … everyone contributed to this win.”
After Saturday, Putala tied former Indian Dani Sullivan with five state-championship appearances and four state-championship wins.
Sullivan was a backup pitcher when Turners won the 2004, 2005 and 2006 titles, and started the 2007 loss and 2008 win.
Good thought, but … : During the aforementioned discussion on career state-title appearances and wins, a male voice was heard on audio saying the name Ashleigh St. Peter, suggesting that she also had five state title appearances and four wins during her career. For the record, the fan was wrong. St. Peter played varsity from 2003 through 2007; she was an eighth-grader in 2003, the last time Turners failed to reach the WMass finals, and Recorder archives confirmed that there were no seventh-graders on the Indians’ 24-player postseason roster.
Phillips, Putala, center fielder Hailey Whipple, utility infielder Jess Loynd and injured shortstop Jordan Meattey are the Indians’ five graduating seniors.
Longtime assistant coach Mark Sullivan on his brief pregame talk with Phillips: “I was putting eye black on Mac, and I said, ‘Be spectacular,’ and she said, ‘Thank you.’
She was (spectacular).”