It was an emotional game for the Stuyvesant Renegades as they lost to the Petrides Lady Panthers on Wednesday, May 16. As the season officially closed, an end came also to the high school softball career of three promising and influential players, all of whom are graduating.
The Renegades, who were the home team, started strong after sophomore Marie Frolich, after hitting a double, scored on an RBI single from senior and co-captain Morgan Higgins in the top of the first inning to make the score 1-0 Stuyvesant. Frolich said, “We played really good defense, and it was an overall good game.”
After a scoreless second inning, things picked up for Petrides in the third, as it was able to plate three runners to make the score to 3-1 in its favor. Outbursts of emotion showed on the field before Petrides was able to score, as Lady Panther sophomore and second baseman Melanie Palmieri, was thrown out trying to steal second base at the start of the third inning. After she appeared to slide into the base safely, when she stood up, she lost contact with the bag and was tagged out by Frolich.
In the fourth inning, the Lady Panthers scored again, leaving the Renegades trailing by three runs. After, the defense for both teams picked up in two scoreless innings. With few errors on the field, both Higgins and and junior Lady Panther Jaclyn Dibello continued to throw strikes and make it difficult for the offenses to get hits.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Panthers got a runner on base and batted her in for their fifth run of the game. The last chance for the Renegades to come back at the bottom of the seventh inning was unsuccessful, and they lost by a final score of 5-1.
Though disappointment was present throughout the Renegades bench, the team was proud of the way they played. “We were always good sports,” Frolich said. “We played because we loved the game and we loved being with each other.”
After throwing 103 pitches in all seven innings against Petrides, Higgins, like the rest of the team was upset, but said, “We made the plays and hit it hard, but they made the plays too.”
What made this game so meaningful for the Renegades was that the culmination of the season meant the end of several seniors’ time on the team. Higgins, senior and co-captain Ana Slade, and senior and first baseman Caroline Roig-Irwin led the team as role models to the younger players.
Higgins was the star pitcher during her time on the Renegades, winning 13 out of her 14 games played in this regular season. She closed the season with a 2.61 earned run average and pitched 1250 total pitches during the season. Higgins also stood out as a great hitter on the team with a .473 batting average and a .508 on-base percentage.
As Higgins passes on the starting pitching torch to Frolich, who got experience pitching this season after throwing 103 pitches to beat High School of Environmental Studies, the senior has high hopes for next year’s team. “Three seniors are graduating, but I’m confident there will be people able to step up and take their place defensively.” Higgins said, “And the defense may be even stronger than it was this year.”