This day and age schools are losing junior varsity programs rather than adding them, but that’s not the case at Monmouth Academy.

The Mustangs have been a program that barely had enough varsity players the last couple seasons but now the numbers have swelled significantly.

“We knew this class was coming,” said Monmouth softball coach Rachel Bernier of her sizable group of freshmen. “There were 10 eighth graders from last year. So that helps, and we only lost one senior from last year.”

Monmouth has 22 players overall and put 11 on the new JV team. Lisa Hasch, the former Monmouth pitcher and Winthrop varsity coach, is coaching that team.

“We’re in decent shape because we have a legit JV program,” said Bernier.  “That’s going to help us out. Before we were swinging kids and didn’t have enough players. Now we can play the same day and not be effected by it.”

Last year, the Mustangs had extremely low numbers and then had injuries, including pitcher Reen Kahl. That had Monmouth juggling its lineup regularly. Now if there is movement in the roster it will be from players moving up from the JV team.

“We’ll swing some kids back and forth because we have legitimate numbers now,” said Bernier.

It also gives the Mustangs seven players that can pitch. Kahl was injured most of last year and Colby Wilson filled in. Now the Mustangs have great depth at that position, which only strengthens the rest of the lineup.

“We’re looking at doing some different things and platooning some games to get people some innings,” said Bernier. “We’ve got some options.”

Back in the outfield

Jay’s lineup has been bolstered by the returning of junior outfielder Alannah White. She missed last season but returns to a Tiger team that has most of its roster back.

When Jay opened the season last week, White threw two runners out at first from right field, robbing them of singles. She also made a diving catch in foul territory. That’s in addition to being a threat at the plate and on the bases.

“We love having her back,” said Jay coach Robin Roberts. “As a sophomore she was making plays like that for us. She can play the infield too. She can play any position we want. We put her in the outfield as a sophomore because of her speed. When Alexii Smith was pitching, everything went that way.”

This is only a test

The unbeaten Oak Hill softball team got a bit of an unexpected challenge this week against Rockland. The Raiders were up 5-0 going into the seventh. Coach Julie Boucher gave some subs a chance to play in the final inning but three errors opened the door to a Tiger rally.

“The starting lineup is very solid defensively,” said Boucher. “We had two errors in the first two games.”

Rockland turned those three miscues into three runs, making it 5-3 with a runner on third with just one out. An inaccurate score on the scoreboard didn’t help matters, making the players thinking it was actually a 5-4 game. Boucher put her starters back in and pitcher Lauren Hall finished off the Tigers with a pair of strike outs.

The Raiders responded well to facing that kind of pressure situation, but it was a lesson they might have liked to avoid.

“I told the players that if I put them on the field starting lineup or subs, they have to give 110 percent,” said Boucher. “That puts so much pressure on Lauren or on Kortni (Michaud) if she’s pitching. I told them that they’ve got to provide that effort and that help for them. That put Lauren in a huge pressure situation.”

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