Malden High’s Softball Team ended their season with a game at home against Marblehead.
While this season was not as successful as originally expected, Softball Coach Julie Grillon described that throughout this season “performed reasonably well” and “improved throughout the season.”
Like most teams at Malden High, the Softball team had to adapt to the loss of a lot of key senior players from last season. Sophomore varsity player Sarah Whitehouse explained that from last season “they lost a lot [of] seniors”, but “had freshman and sophomore players who have moved up who have done well to adapt to varsity.” Players such as sophomores Amanda Doval, Maciel Biato, and freshman Lissette Curran have all played for the varsity team this season.
One standout player from this season was Whitehouse herself. Coach Grillon described that Whitehouse has “improved so much in the past year” due to the fact that she refined a wide variety of her skills this season. Grillon explained that she improved on adding more power to her swings and this “enabled her to confuse the defenses and exploit the holes they left when they tried to predict where she would hit the ball.” Whitehouse did a “tremendous job” in center field and served as the team’s leadoff hitter. Whitehouse's physical qualities, such as her speed, allowed her to “steal many bases for us as well this season,” says Grillon.
Another standout this season was freshman Lissette Curran, who played mainly as the team’s primary catcher. Even though this is Curran’s first year on the team, she has highlighted her importance and ability this season due to her reliable knowledge of the game. Coach Grillon described that “she blocked a lot of balls in the dirt” and also “showed great agility.” Grillon was impressed by her this season because Curran already understood strategies to her game that Grillon did not have to teach her. Toward the end of the season, she also adapted to playing offensively and did well hitting the ball hard with power.
Both Sarah Whitehouse and Lissete Curran were named NEC Softball All-Stars this season.
Coach Grillon expects the team to improve on from this season, however, acknowledged that they will have to adapt to losing a lot of their key senior players once again. Grillon is optimistic though because highlighting that they “have some promising talent on JV that should help [them] fill the departures of [the] seniors” because of the fact that they comprised a majority of the starting infield.
Along with the addition of new JV players coming up to the varsity team, Grillon expects the returning players to work hard in the off-season in order to prepare for next year’s season. Grillon explains that she “would expect [them] to do well in the GBL next year and hopefully make a push to make the MIAA tournament”, however, she understands that this season “was somewhat of a rebuilding year” but expects more of the players next year.
