The ConVal softball team advanced to the NHIAA Division II quarterfinals with an 8-2 win over Sanborn Wednesday, the Cougars’ first playoff win since 2014.
Maybe it was because they’d beaten Sanborn a week ago, or maybe it was the cool-headed demeanor the Cougars have displayed all season, but ConVal didn’t show any jitters in their playoff opener, scoring in the bottom of the first and never trailing.
“It felt like every other game,” said First Team All-State junior shortstop Morgan Bemont after the game. “We kept the same energy. Maybe even more. I feel like energy is a huge thing on this team. And I think if we can continue that through our playoff run, we can go pretty far.”
The energy was up in the first, when freshman catcher Avery Moore reached on an error and scored; Sanborn briefly tied the game in the third, but ConVal answered with back-to-back big innings.
“The girls get really excited really fast and they’re like ‘Okay, we can do this. We can do this fast. Here we go,’” ConVal head coach Amanda Hinton said. “I felt like we had the momentum the majority of the game.”
ConVal took control in the bottom of the third with a Bemont leadoff single, a Kendall Sullivan RBI and a Mairin Burgess grounder that turned into a two-run error. The big bats came back out in the fourth, where Sam Henderson led off with a single before the Cougars got three straight doubles by Bemont, Sullivan and Lily Mandel for another two runs.
Hinton said she brought in ConVal Hall of Famer Shauna Whittemore to throw batting practice, giving the Cougars a chance to hit off tough live pitching.
“I knew today that we’d come in here knowing that we could hit, and hitting,” Hinton said. “And we did. Right off the bat, we hit, which is phenomenal, because it gives us a lot of momentum when we have good at-bats early.”
ConVal added two more in the fifth on a Bemont sac fly, a Sullivan double and a Makenzie Anderson RBI. That would be more than enough for starting pitcher Sullivan, who held Sanborn to two runs on three hits with seven strikeouts and no walks over six innings. The Indians really only threatened twice and could never string a pair together; even with runners on second and third with no outs in the fifth, Sullivan got out of the inning with only one run scored.
Lily Mandel closed out the game in the seventh, taking the side down in order after striking out Sanborn’s leadoff hitter Payton Hanson, who manage to foul off nine pitches in a 13-pitch at-bat.
It was a huge playoff win for No. 7 ConVal (11-6); aside from last year’s open tournament, it had been years since the Cougars were a playoff threat. This year’s senior class had only won a total of eight games in the previous three years combined coming into this season, but the team eclipsed that quickly.
Bemont said it’s the tight-knit team chemistry that sets the Cougars apart.
“We are so close to each other,” Bemont said. “We’re always dancing. We’re always having fun. We always pick each other up when we’re down, and I think that’s what makes us different is we don’t dwell on our mistakes.”
Playoff win under their belts, ConVal now has their sights set even higher. Hinton, who won with her Winnisquam team in 2000 and coached ConVal’s JV during their championship season in 2013, has seen what it takes to win a state title, and she thinks her Cougars have a good shot.
“We’re going,” Hinton said. “We’re going to win. Just so you know, it’s going to happen. Maybe not a guarantee, but we’re trying for it. I just told the girls, when I went in 2000, we were the eight seed. So we can win as a seven seed, it’s doable. I have confidence. I really do.”
ConVal has a quarterfinal game Saturday at 1 p.m. at No. 2 Merrimack Valley.