Monomoy Softball Mixing High-Octane Offense With Powerful Pitching To Begin Another Strong Year

HARWICH – Not even the full set of five fingers on one hand would be needed to count the number of times Monomoy softball has lost in the regular season dating back to 2023.

The Sharks, winners of a combined 37 games to just three losses the last two years, are once again making a habit out of hot streaks and lopsided scores. Bolstered by a high-powered offense and dominant pitching, they haven’t dropped a game yet this spring (as of The Chronicle’s deadline). They’re 5-0 with a run differential of 70.

Their resume already includes three five-inning wins (one of them a combined no-hitter). Last week, the Sharks won three games in four days, cruising to a 21-0 run-rule win against Barnstable on April 6, then run-ruling Falmouth 19-2 on April 8 and defeating Wareham 12-3 a day later. For good measure, they run-ruled Sturgis East 23-1 last Monday. 

In the Barnstable win, sophomore Kinsey Lister and senior Willa Leighton teamed up for five no-hit innings, with Lister striking out seven over three frames and Leighton striking out four across two innings in relief. 

Leighton also had five runs batted in and Lister had two. Junior Lexi Totten went 3 for 3 with four RBIs. Head coach Stacy Yarnall has a “great group of girls,” she said.

“A lot of them play summer ball, so they come in, and even if they don't play in the summer, they're cohesive,” Yarnall said.

Against Falmouth, Lister proceeded to strike out 11 — including six in a row at one point — over five innings. Again, she backed the performance in the circle with a day at the plate, recording three RBIs on three singles. The rest of the team has “so much trust” in Lister, freshman Liv Sanford said.

Lister pitched last year as a freshman behind senior starter Alana Lojko. Now Monomoy’s starter this year, Lister has stayed composed, Yarnall said.

“I'm proud of her,” Yarnall said. “I think it's great for her to get the innings in and all the pitches, so she's been doing really well.”

A host of Sharks racked up RBIs against Falmouth. Sanford led emphatically with eight on a home run and two triples. Senior Kiley Mawn had three RBIs on a double and a single, while Leighton recorded two RBIs on a double and single too. Juniors Kate Huse and Emma Capen added an RBI single apiece.

Monomoy has scored in the double digits in their last four games. The only game they didn’t reach that mark was a 4-3 win in the season opener at Plymouth North, a Division 1 team. Since then, the Sharks have scored 70 runs in two weeks. 

“The lineup is good this year,” Yarnall said. “I mix it up a little bit, but everybody is pretty consistent.”

Even after all the extra-base hits against Falmouth, Yarnall highlighted a sacrifice bunt put down by Totten, the catcher, in the first inning. That bunt advanced Huse, the leadoff hitter, to third, and Mawn drove her home with a double moments later to open the scoring.

“Everybody can kind of do their part,” Yarnall said. “That's what we work on. Everybody should be able to bunt. Everybody should be able to make contact.”

The Sharks seem like they’re on the way to another record like last year’s 18-2 or the 19-1 the year before. But beyond that, they’d also love to get further into the Division 4 state tournament than they’ve been in the last couple years. 

Due to how the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association power rankings work, the Sharks have been punished for their schedule despite having one the highest average margins of victory in the division. Because of that, they’ve slotted into the middle of brackets and haven’t gotten a tournament home game as a result.

Last year in particular, Monomoy drew the highly difficult assignment of visiting Pittsfield to open the playoffs. Yarnall knows they can play close games against tougher teams.

“It'd be nice to go past the first round because I have two seniors on this team that deserve it, and so let's hope for the best,” she said.