GREENFIELD — Despite being the last local softball team to open its season, Greenfield High School showed little rust on Monday.
The host Green Wave broke open a scoreless season debut with an 8-run third inning. That would be plenty for sophomore pitcher Olivia Joy, who struck out 15 and allowed just an infield single and a walk in a dominant performance that propelled Greenfield to a 10-0 victory over Palmer High School in an independent tilt at Veterans Field.
“It’s been a long four weeks,” said Greenfield coach Rian Lovett of the lengthy preseason before the team’s Monday opener. “I was a little nervous going in because I wasn’t sure how we’d come out (Monday). But I was really impressed with everything. All the stuff I was hoping to see from us was there.”
Joy’s stellar outing in the pitching circle set the tone for the Wave (1-0). The right-hander took control of the starting job a few weeks into her freshman season in 2016. She entered as the unquestioned starter this spring, and certainly looked the part on Monday. She walked one in the second inning and allowed an infield single in the third before retiring the final 13 batters she faced. The one-hitter featured 15 strikeouts, including the 100th of her brief career in the seventh.
“I feel like I’ve improved a lot,” admitted Joy, who had at least two strikeouts in every inning but the fourth. “And I feel more confident going into this year as a team and myself. We’ve buckled down.”
Joy’s big debut was certainly a welcome sight for Lovett and the Wave.
“I think she has more confidence this year because she knows (the job) is hers,” the coach explained. “She threw the ball so well. She doesn’t give herself enough credit sometimes but she works so hard. She’s put herself in a good position for this season.”
The game was scoreless into the bottom of the third, when Greenfield finally got to Palmer (2-3) starter Sierra Cavanaugh the second time through the order. The Wave pushed across eight runs, getting on base in a variety of ways. Raegan Hickey had the big blow, a three-run triple to right field that plated Nicole Miner, Katie Haselton and Audrey Bresciano. Haselton and Samantha Smith added RBI singles, while Kirsten Ward drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the frame. Bresciano scored two runs and drove in a run, as she was hit by pitches twice in the third inning alone to aid Greenfield to the 8-0 advantage.
“We’ve worked a lot on our hitting and I was happy with our offense,” lauded Lovett. “We swung the bats well, swung them hard. I think we had to shake off a bit of the rust, having not seen a live pitcher yet the first time around. We’re usually a one-time-through-the-order team before we get going. Hopefully now we’ll gain some confidence and be able to get going sooner.”
With Joy dominating, the Wave offense tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning. Haselton, an eight-grader who had two hits and reached base three times in her varsity debut, led off with a single and eventually scored on Hickey’s second triple of the game. Hickey scampered home on an error off a sharply-hit ball from Lizzy Howland to extend the lead to 10-0.
“We lost last year to Palmer (a 5-1 loss on the road) so I’m really proud of the effort to come back and get this (win),” Lovett said.
Palmer had four hits and walked three times against Joy in last year’s meeting. She cleaned things up in the rematch.
“Last year they hit the ball well, so I went more inside, tried to mix things up,” Joy offered. “It was tough because Palmer’s a good team, so not being able to play a game yet wasn’t the best. I was really happy with how we played though.”
Hickey, Smith and Haselton had two hits a piece, with Hickey driving in four runs out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
Greenfield is right back in action today, traveling to Buckland to open the Franklin County League slate with a game against Mohawk Trail Regional High School (2-0). First pitch is set for 3:30.