BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – The excellence continued for a group of fourth, fifth, and sixth grade softball players who recently completed the remarkable achievement of back-to-back undefeated seasons, after recently clinching their title with a win at Springfield’s Robinson Park.
Around this time last year, Rockingham head coach Steve Bostwick’s team was completing an impressive, 12-0 season – including two playoff wins – to clinch the championship, after a victory against an always-worthy Springfield team.
This reporter remembers (after interviewing the coach) how proud Bostwick was of the team, coming together on the heels of the pandemic situation that hadn’t allowed the young athletes to play ball in over a year.
Coming into this season, the goals remained the same for Coach Bostwick and his team. “Making it fun is important,” Bostwick said in a recent interview. “But if you don’t know what you’re doing on the field, that takes away from the fun. So, we try to find that balance between teaching the girls to play the right way, while also having fun. I also want to make sure that each player is ready for middle school softball, if they decide to continue playing.”
However, the last thing any coach would probably expect from their team after a season like that, is to actually repeat the undefeated season, right?
“We started the season with 20 players for our ‘under age 12’ team, with several of the girls also being new to softball,” Bostwick said. “But with the help of our great assistant coaches [Derek Weir, Mickey Rentas, Megan Applegate, and Jason Tostrup], we concentrated on fundamentals, positivity, and building teamwork. We practiced a lot in between games during the 10-week season, and before we knew it, the playoffs were here!”
After a first-round win against a good Ludlow-Cavendish team, the Lady Terriers found themselves in the championship game for the second consecutive year, against a very good Springfield squad. It was a well-played title game, and with the tying run at the plate for Springfield in their final at-bat, a ground out to third base ended the rally for a 7-3 Rockingham victory.
“The game started out as a pitcher’s duel, but we cracked it open with five runs in the third inning and then hung on for the win,” Bostwick concluded. “Our pitchers, Karlie Weir and Johanna Kissell, pitched great and our catcher, Riley Applegate, did a great job behind the plate for all six innings of the title game.”
The win completed an incredible two-year-plus run for this team, that has seen them complete back-to-back undefeated seasons, surely an amazing feat for any level of team sports. In fact, going back to the final two games of the 2021 season, Coach Bostwick’s team has won an incredible 24 straight games. Congratulations to all the players, coaches, parents, and umpires who contributed to this run of excellence.