Greater Lynn Babe Ruth 14U softball squad ready for regionals

For coach Steve Martin and the Greater Lynn Babe Ruth 14U all-star softball team, it has already been a very successful summer. But the team has a chance to make it an even more special summer beginning this morning, when it plays on home turf in the New England Regionals.Martin’s team is fresh off a stellar run in the state tournament that saw it fight out of the losers’ bracket to reach the finals before running out of steam against Kingston. That experience is something that Martin hopes will help his team in the New Englands.”It’s so hard to fight back through everything like we did in the states,” Martin said. “It gets to the point where the kids are just exhausted. We’d like to win the first couple games if we could to ensure we advance to the next round.”Lynn’s quest for the New England title will begin this morning at 10 a.m when it takes on Arlington, a team it dispatched in the states. Later in the afternoon, the team will be back on the field at 4 p.m. to take on Rochester, NH.Having an early game is something that Martin is glad to see for his team.”It’s nice that we can play early and get going,” Martin said. “Then we can relax a little bit, have a nice lunch and come back ready to go for the second game.”The eight participating teams are divided up into two four-team groups that will play a pool play format. The top two teams from each group will cross over in Saturday’s semifinals before the champion will be crowned on Sunday.Lynn’s final pool game will come on Saturday at 9 a.m. when it takes on Western Mass. champion Pittsfield. In an ideal world, Martin would like to already know his fate before taking the field on Saturday.”You want to win that first game to set you up in a good spot. It takes a little pressure off yourself,” Martin said. “It’s going to be great to play in front of a home crowd. And we hope to use it to build a little energy.”Martin will look to the trio of Molly Doyle, Shanna Zeramby and Brooke Holey to handle the bulk of the pitching chores over the weekend. The offense has been led by newfound slap hitter Brandy Sequeira and Martin’s daughter, Ivy, who batted over.500 in state tournament play.”The key for us is pitching and defense. With the good pitching that I know we’re going to see, I don’t know how much we’re going to hit,” Martin said. “So if we have good pitching, we’re going to be able to stay in every game.”