Ashley Schuman sends the ball flying towards home plate.
After a long week of canceled games due to weather, Girls Softball played its first home opener game against Noble and Greenough (Nobles), ultimately falling.
Going into Wednesday’s game, the team had only played during its preseason and one scrimmage. Co-Captain Maris Moody ’24 shared that despite the loss, given the circumstances, the team performed well.
“[Nobles] won, but it was a good game, with all things considered. And by that I mean we have a pretty spaced-out schedule, so we haven’t played a game since our scrimmage last week against a pretty interesting team. They weren’t very good, but we hadn’t played a game in a week, and then before that, we only played in Florida. So our schedule’s been pretty spaced out,” said Moody.
Ashley Schuman ’27 recognized the importance of critical moments in the game, mentioning opportunities both on offense and defense. Despite some setbacks, she praises her team’s ability to rebound and make impactful plays.
“There are always going to be crucial moments in every game. We had some base runners in scoring position while at bat, and we had some important baserunners on while in the field. Not every play went our way today, but we did a great job of bouncing back and making some really great plays all around,” wrote Schuman in an email to The Phillipian.
Myla Mexico ’27 highlighted the team’s ability to bring up the energy and keep a consistent effort throughout games. She also noted the importance of feedback from coaches and each other.
“Everyone knows how to pick each other up and makes sure everyone is doing their best. Also taking feedback well to help people improve to make the team even better,” wrote Mexico in an email to The Phillipian.
Although Andover was not able to accomplish home runs, Moody points out that the team was still able to execute some impressive hits that created movement along the field.
Moody commended teammates Ava Davey ’25, Emerson Buckley ’25, and Gaby Potter ’27 for their hitting. Although the team wasn’t able to put any points on the scoreboard, it was still able to hit and move runners.
“I would say people like Ava Davey, Gaby Porter, Emerson Buckley all strung together these hits so that we could move runners and get around the bases, just we couldn’t unfortunately get anyone across home plate and we couldn’t score,” said Moody.
Schuman highlighted the team’s communication and support skills. She shared that everyone takes feedback well and is always looking to do better.
“We communicate well. Everyone knows how to pick others up when their down, we know how to listen to each other while on the field, we take feedback very well always looking to improve and of course there are always things that we can improve on, but I think we played a tough game today and this game will only help us further into the season,” Schuman wrote in an email to The Phillipian.
According to Moody, the atmosphere of the event was high with such a big home crowd and walk up music. Looking ahead, the team expects improvements specifically in its offense.
“We had plenty of fans come to watch this game. We also do walk up songs and music in between to keep things lively, but it wasn’t really necessary with such a big crowd. And then going into our Friday, Saturday games this week, I think that we have big things to expect from us, especially off of our bats. Offensively, we’re going to have to do a lot better than we did today. Not that we did bad necessarily, but I just think that we have bigger things that we can do,” said Moody.
