The Billerica Memorial High School softball team made an unlikely trip to the Div. 1 North Championship on Saturday with a 3-1 win over the previously undefeated Peabody High School Tanners at Kiley School Field.
The victory brings BMHS to the state semi-finals on Monday, June 28th, in Taunton at 7 p.m.
Taunton won the Div. 1 South title on Saturday night with a 4-0 win over Bridgewater-Raynham.
Taunton has yet to allow one run in four playoff wins.
More:Billerica Memorial High School Softball competes in the Division 1 North Championship
The Indians, who finished 17th after a regular season that ended 8-7, followed Peabody with a 1-0 result before taking the lead twice in the fifth inning and one on the road to victory added another run in seventh place.
“We have really good leaders on this team,” said Patty Higgins, Billerica’s longtime coach. “The captains are really great and the young kids just believe. Peabody is a phenomenal team. Defeating them means so much. “
More:PHOTOS: Billerica Softball closes Acton-Boxborough, 11-0, in MIAA Div. 1 foreplay
Billerica’s march to the crown included a preliminary round win over 16-seeded Acton-Boxborough, a 4-3 triumph over top-seeded and unbeaten Woburn, a 3-1 win over ninth-seeded Arlington and a 2-1 Judgment of Merrimack Valley Conference rival North Andover.
“Based on our track record, people didn’t expect us to come out like this,” said senior pitcher and tri-captain Jordan Murch. “When we beat Woburn, it really opened some eyes.”
Peabody’s postseason was only against MVC teams as PMHS led Haverhill, Methuen and Andover before falling to Billerica.
“This team hasn’t been together long, but we play like we’ve been together forever,” said Senior Kelsey Yutkins. “I just don’t think you can find that in a lot of places. Myself and the other two captains grew up together, so it’s very special to share this season together. “
In the fifth inning, BMHS finally took the lead.
Junior Kailey Roche started with a bloop single over third base and then advanced to second base with a pass ball. A sophomore year victim of Emily Burdick put Roche in third place before a grounder from junior Zaria Jean-Pierre led to a game on third that saw Roche safely back in the sack, while Jean-Pierre down in second place raced.
Billerica sophomore Samantha Gaona was up next and her buck saw Peabody trying to knock Roche out at home, but the ball gushed out of the catcher and ended the game while Jean-Pierre and Gaona moved up to second and third.
Senior tri-captain Molly Stanton Pinch ran for Jean-Pierre and scored when junior first baseman Jessica Maillet singled out over first base to make the 2-1.
Jean-Pierre wasn’t finished when he homerings over the left fence with one in the top of the seventh.
Billerica junior pitcher Analize Grady and her defense took care of the rest.
Grady came into play in the lower part of the second inning, scoring 5.2 goalless frames.
Grady didn’t allow a hit and got help from a defense where Gaona made two shortstops in the fifth game and the senior Meghan Theall made a running catch in left field to end the sixth with a Tanner runner on base.
Peabody had a chance to take command early in the game.
After the Indians lost in the first 1-2-3, the Indians dodged a ball in the home half of the frame when Peabody had a runner in third place with an out before third baseman Kelsey Yutkins took a line drive for out no . 2 and second year right-field player Naomi Boldebuck caught a two-out flyball.
The Tanners took the lead in the second step after a walk and a single, which turned into a run after an Indian mistake.
After the game, Murch left the game in favor of Grady, who immediately ended the inning with a strikeout and a grounder in second place, easily scooped by Burdick.
Peabody, who scored six times in his first three playoff wins, wouldn’t seriously threaten to score again.
“Whether in the field or on the bench, it’s the screaming and the screaming and the holding up the energy,” said Murch, who will be studying biology at the University of Vermont this fall. “It’s the music between all the innings, it really gets us all excited.”
And the music hasn’t stopped for the Indians.
Game notes
- There were two controversial games during the game, with each team making the decision. In the sixth, Yutkins started with one step and then stole in second when teammate Meghan Theall swung on a pitch and missed. Yutkins, who had successfully stolen the base, was called to second base in response to an interference call from a catcher during the throw. The call was delayed and BMHS trainer Patty Higgins was upset but was unable to cancel the call.
- In the seventh inning, Zaria Jean-Pierre returned to the game after being tied up in the fifth by senior teammate Molly Stanton. After Jean-Pierre hit a home run over the left fence, Peabody claimed that Jean-Pierre had not officially re-entered the game and asked the umpiring crew to call Jean-Pierre out for an infraction, but the match officials decided the substitution took place legally after almost 20 minutes of delay.
- Stanton returned to the team this week after missing much of the season due to injury. She scored the game win run in Maillet’s fifth single.
- Billerica’s music playlist in the dugout included Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl”, Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling”, Matthew Wilder’s “Break My Stride” and DJ Crazy J Rodriguez’s “Walk It Dah It”.
The latest news from Billerica and beyond can be found at on our website and log in our daily newsletter Just Like Heaven.
