ITEM FILE PHOTO
Lynn’s Meagan O’Brien fields a ground ball during Lynn Junior practice in preparation for the state championship series.
BY STEVE KRAUSE
LYNN — The Lynn Junior Little League softball team has conquered two hurdles thus far. The stakes keep getting bigger from here.
Lynn, which plays out of Wyoma but emcompasses the entire city, will travel to Gonsalves Field in Woburn Saturday — a venue it knows well — to play Charlton in a best-of-three state championship series. There will be a doubleheader Saturday (10 a.m. and 3 p.m.) and if a third game is necessary, it’ll be Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
This is Lynn’s first year as a junior Little League team. Prior to this year, older Little League graduates played for Babe Ruth, whose softball program was discontinued. Part of the reason for that, said Lynn manager Chad Wilkins, is that numbers were dwindling and more communities fielded Little League softball programs than Babe Ruth.
“This year, we had three teams in our division, but we played in a league with 12 teams, and that included Saugus, Marblehead, Salem and Swampscott.”
This past Monday night, Lynn defeated Woburn, 18-8, to win the rubber match between the two teams in the state sectionals. All three games were free-swinging affairs, with Lynn taking its two games at its own field at Lynn Woods and Woburn winning at Gonsalves. What Wilkins took from that series, though, was the feeling that no matter whom he puts in, or where, that player is going to produce.
“Really,” he said, “it’s been awfully tough to get all the subs in because everybody’s playing well. But it’s a good problem to have.”
Take pitching, for example. Lynn’s best pitcher, said Wilkins, is actually Jenna Tobin, with Abby Fila, who has handled just about all of it during the postseason, “No. 1A.”
However, said Wilkins, Tobin is so valuable at third base (“and that’s, as you know, a real important position in softball”) that the staff has found it difficult to play her anywhere else.
“But,” he said, “that’s an easy decision to make when you have someone like Abby on the mound.”
What he likes best about Fila is her mental toughness.
“She doesn’t get rattled at all,” he said. “She stays the same no matter what.”
Around the horn, after Tobin, is MacKenzie Shea at short, who has been Wilkins’ shortstop for three seasons now; Kate O’Neill at second, “and she could be the smartest player on the team. She makes the right decision no matter what;” and Amanda Wilkins at first, who can also catch by has found much success at first, he said.
By playing Wilkins at first, Kiara Edmonds has been able to catch, “and she’s a smart player, and probably the best hitter on the team.”
ision no matter what. Got a good head on her shoulders. Very, very good at second base.
Meagan O’Brien holds down the fort in left field, “and she’s very gritty player,” Wilkins said.
“She plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played,” he said. “She plays hard, runs hard, slides hard, and is very aggressive.”
Julia Nickolau patrols center, which is only fitting, Wilkins said, as she’s the fastest player on the team.
“She’s not afraid to go after the ball,” he said. “As a leadoff hitter, she has a knack of getting on base and before you know it, she’s on third.”
Emma Fringuelli plays right field, “and she’s been hitting the ball very well too.”
All the subs are good hitters, said Wilkins.
“We can put Katie Donovan almost anywhere,” he said. “She’s a good utility player. Renee Walker probably had the best average on my regular-season team. Kylie Poisson got maybe the biggest hit in that first game against Woburn, but she’s the fastest of all the subs so she’s been pinch-running a lot.
“And Jillian Brown…it’s hard to leave her out of the lineup. She’s a really good teammate. Very supportive of everybody.”
