Tied for First in ACL, Marshfield Hands D-Y Only Loss of Season

SOUTH YARMOUTH – One thing’s for certain about this season’s Dennis-Yarmouth softball team: there isn’t an ounce of quit in a single girl on the roster.

Hamstrung by a fluke pre-game injury to their starting shortstop, the Dolphins nevertheless battled throughout Wednesday’s match-up with Atlantic Coast League rival Marshfield only to fall, 8-6.

Dennis-Yarmouth’s Patty Newhard and her Dolphins fell for the first time this season Wednesday, 8-6, to Marshfield.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos

“It was a great game,” head coach Mike Bonasia said. “They didn’t quit and they played hard. We battled back and had bases loaded with two outs but we couldn’t drive in a run.”

The Dolphins were tied with Marshfield for first place in the Atlantic Coast League and with the loss fell to 8-1 and second place. Still, Bonasia was not worried in the least.

“Not even close,” Bonasia said. “We need to win two (to clinch a south sectional berth) and we have 11 games left on the schedule.”

Down 8-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Dennis-Yarmouth’s Maggie Johnson got what looked to be a rally going with a basehit , followed by hits from Megan Coyle and Hailey Miller, with Miller’s rip making it an 8-6 ballgame. The next batter struck out but then Ali Plucinski walked to load the bases.

But it was simply not meant to be as Marshfield pitcher Kaylen McClary settled to strike out the last D-Y batter to end the game.

The Rams got on the scoreboard with two runs in the first inning, but the Dolphins rebounded for three runs in the bottom of the first for a 3-2 lead.

Kiley Chapasko, Patty Newhard and Johnson each contributed from the plate, combined with a pair of Marshfield errors to get the lead. It would prove to be, however, short-lived.

The Rams jumped on sophomore Dolphin ace Sammi Feinstein in the third inning, tagging her for five runs before the bleeding finally stopped. Armed with a 7-3 lead, Marshfield’s McClary struck out the side in the fourth.

Unwilling to relent, however, the Dolphins staged a two-run rally in the top of the fifth inning on a one-out walk drawn by Chapasko, followed by hits from Johnson, Coyle and Miller before McClary settled to get out of it with two runners on base and just a 7-5 lead.

The Rams got a run back in the bottom half of the inning to make it 8-5 but all the hosts could do was plate one more in their final at-bat for the 8-6 finale.

Johnson and Miller led the Dolphins at the plate, each with a 3-4 performance, while Coyle went 2-4. Plucinski and Newhard each had one hit. Feinstein went the distance and struck out five batters but took her first loss in the effort.

The Dolphins get back on track Friday against Falmouth in another Atlantic Coast League contest at 4:00 pm.

— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm