PEABODY — When two of the Northeastern Conference’s best face off, it often comes down to individuals making high-pressure plays. In Marblehead’s 10-7 win against Peabody Wednesday, it was exactly that.
Peabody trailed, 5-3, in the bottom of the sixth inning. But that was before senior Jaslyn Iraola – with the bases loaded and two outs – hit a grand slam to left field to give the Tanners their first lead of the game (7-5).
But Marblehead wasn’t done.
In the top of the seventh inning, after another quick run, Lyla McGovern – with two strikes – answered with a grand slam of her own to give the Magicians a 10-7 lead.
“I had two strikes… I don’t know why, but I swung like I was going to hit a home run – I was so ready for it,” McGovern said. “I was kind of in disbelief. I was going up thinking that it was going to happen.”
Marblehead Coach Johnny Gold was in disbelief of what he saw.
“Our No. 9 hitter, Lyla McGovern, put one downtown,” he said. “I couldn’t write a story about that.”
When asked what his message was after Peabody’s grand slam, Gold admitted he didn’t have to give his players any.
“I didn’t give them a message – our captains did. Luka Bornhorst said, ‘We can do this,’ and Tessa Francis, who’s also a leader, said some words, and then Tessa Andriano said, ‘Let’s just go and do this,’” Gold said. “They did it. I was about to say something, but I didn’t have to. They did my job for me. I was so proud of them.”
It was a heartbreaking loss for Peabody as a few errors in the seventh inning plagued the Tanners.
“I don’t want to blame our defense. We put ourselves behind and we had to rally back. We rallied back. We had an opportunity to make plays, but we didn’t make those plays. They executed better than we did late in the game, and that’s why they won,” said Peabody Coach Steve Lomasney. “They are a good team with a really good pitcher. I don’t think anyone hits her (Francis) like we do, but she’s really good.”
Theatrics aside, it was a tight game before the final innings. Gold was aware of the offensive power from Peabody.
“We were very cognizant of how good of a hitting team they are – and they showed it,” he said. “We wanted to make them go fishing a lot and the walks started coming because they were disciplined – more than I thought they’d be.”
Lomasney was proud of Iraola’s home run.
“This article should be about her,” Lomasney said. “[It was a] lightning bolt in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead. We go out there and don’t get the outs that we should have.”
Ayanna Cirame was in the circle for Peabody and drew lots of praise from Lomasney.
“I thought she pitched excellently. I think she deserved to win late in the game. Early in the game, she put herself in a pickle. We had four straight innings with their leadoff hitter getting on first base. It’s really hard to play that way,” Lomasney said. “But, by the same token, she battled through it and kept us in the game.”
For the Magicians, Bornhorst went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a single, and three RBI. One of Bornhorst’s doubles was inches away from a home run as the ball hit the top of the fence, but bounced back into play.
Despite her offensive talent, Gold was more impressed with her defense.
“She made some huge stops,” he said. “Luka is one hell of a catcher and that’s why she’s going D1.”
Lomasney and the Tanners were left “frustrated,” but recognized Wednesday’s game as a learning experience.
“It was a roller-coaster ride of a game. It was frustrating, but I’m proud of a lot of the stuff we did,” Lomasney said. “They’re a good team and they’re winning a lot of games. We had a chance to win it, but they executed better than we did.”
