Bromfield’s varsity softball players beat the Murdock Blue Devils 3-0 at home May 3 under sunny skies on the field at Ann Lees Road. It was their second win of the season.
Eighth-grader Bianca Bazarnick pitched all seven innings, striking out 12 batters, allowing only two hits, and holding the Blue Devils scoreless.
Sophomore Gigi Benway was the first player on base with a perfectly executed slap hit between first and second in the third inning. She was thrown out, however, attempting to steal third base. But later in the inning, eighth-grader Reagan Hodson scored on a single by sophomore Sophia Pierce, putting Bromfield ahead 1-0. Bromfield players increased their lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning, and Bazarnick’s pitching plus the team’s fielding kept the Blue Devils from closing the gap.
Gigi Benway (#10) slides into third base.(Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Benway led the Trojans offense with two hits and two runs batted in from the number seven spot in the lineup. Coach Matt Benway, however, had a shoutout as well for the defensive play of junior Audrey Slavin, making her first appearance at second base. “She’s usually our designated hitter,” said Benway. She played four innings at second base … and she made every play that came to her.”
Team captain Hannah Murphy, whom many will remember for her impassioned speech at the October 2018 Special Town Meeting in favor of converting the field on Ann Lees Road into a softball field, is now a senior and headed to Syracuse University next year, where she plans to play intramural softball. “After so many seasons and years of losses,” Murphy said, “I think we’re used to having fun no matter what the outcome of a game. But it’s always nice to have a win. … It feels good.”
This is the first season in six years in which Harvard has had enough players to field a varsity softball team. Murphy said she was excited to see where the program goes after she graduates. “We have a really, really good pipeline,” she told the Press. “But it hasn’t always been that way. In the past, we’ve struggled for players, but now to see that there’s just so many—and there’s so many on the middle school team, too—we have the people and have the girls and have the passion.”
The Trojans are currently in seventh place among the eight teams of the Midland Wachusett D League. They rank 25th among the 74 schools of Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 5 softball, good enough for a slot in the Division 5 championship tournament later this spring.
Pitcher Bianca Bazarnick (#21) tosses the ball to Aven Overmiller (#24) on first base for an easy out.
