Amanda Gagne, left, and Ally Gagne are sophomores with starting roles for the Poland softball team. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)

The Poland softball team’s success this season can be in part related to the performance of its top two hitters, two of the up-the-middle, backbone-of-the-defense players.

Yet sophomores Amanda and Ally Gagne — despite what their surnames might suggest — aren’t related.

It’s an easy assumption to make. Same name, same sport, same school, same class, even same first letter of the first name.

Ally Gagne said the mistake happens “a lot of times, actually.”

“We play all three sports together (softball, soccer and basketball), so most times we’re asked if we’re siblings,” she said.

“One time, when we were a little bit younger, we actually got pulled aside and asked if we were ever related,” Amanda said. “I mean, for a little while we pretended.”

The two girls even wondered themselves when they started playing against each other in recreation sports. Ally played for Minot teams, Amanda for Mechanic Falls.

“When we were playing against each other, I did find it a little annoying,” Amanda said. “I was like, ‘Oh, she has my last name.’ And then everybody’s like, ‘Oh, well she’s older, so technically it was hers.’ I’m like, ‘No, it’s mine.’ Now I just love it. I think it’s funny, and sometimes I do joke around like, ‘Oh, well we’re related somehow down there.'”

They can joke about it now, but when the girls were rec rivals they looked at each other as enemies.

Ally said she was annoyed by Amanda, who she said is “just all-around athletic.” Amanda similarly said she wanted to beat Ally because she thought her namesake was “so much better than me.”

It wasn’t until they got to travel-team-level athletics in sixth grade that the two joined forces on the same team.

“I think basketball was what like we really bonded over, because that’s how we met, like together on a team,” Amanda said. “And I just thought to myself, I’m like, ‘Oh, she’s so awesome. It’s great to have a friend like her.’ And then just ever since.”

This softball season is their sixth high-school sports season together, and it has been their most impactful yet. Amanda, the Knights’ leadoff hitter and center fielder, and Ally, the No. 1 pitcher and No. 2 hitter, have helped put Poland right into the thick of things in Class B South.

Ally Gagne said getting playing time last year as a freshman has helped her take the next step to playing such an integral role for the Knights.

“I think just getting used to the high school atmosphere, having a little bit more experience with it — the coaches, the teams, everything about it,” Ally said. “It’s just been like you have that extra year experience, you know kind of what to expect going to games, how you prepare for games.”

The two girls may not be sisters, but they have each other’s back in the field and at the plate. Ally said it’s a “huge help” having Amanda behind her patrolling center.

“There’s tough balls that you see, and you’re just like, ‘Crap,'” Ally said. “And just knowing Amanda’s fast, her speed and her athleticism is crazy, and just knowing, ‘Oh, she’s got it, we’re fine,’ it’s a big help.”

Amanda, in turn, said she has comfort in center because of who is in the pitcher’s circle.

“She’s been an amazing pitcher, and sometimes I’m just thinking, I’m sitting out back and I’m just like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I know we’re going to have this game, and it’s going to be because of Ally,'” Amanda said.

At the plate, Ally said she doesn’t put much thought into where she hits in the batting order, only what she has to do once it’s her turn to step into the batter’s box.

“I try and think about, ‘What do I need to do? What do I need to get done? What am I going to do once Amanda gets on?'” Ally said. “Just situational stuff.”

Amanda has to deal with the pressure of being at the top of the order. In the instances that she doesn’t get on for Ally, she said her job is to go back into the dugout and tell the rest of the team what to expect from the opposing pitcher.

“Being, I think, the first batter for me does kind of put a little bit of pressure on me but it’s not like bad pressure,'” Amanda said. “It’s just more of a, ‘I’m first because Coach knows that I can do it.'”

There’s also a bigger pressure of sorts on the girls, in trying to fill important roles on the team despite their relative youth.

“I think that us only being sophomores that sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves to make our team better, but there’s really nothing we need to fix on,” Amanda said. “We just need to come ready to play, like we always do, and just know that we can have a chance, no matter what.”

The sophomore class makes up a significant portion of the Poland roster, and the group has been playing together for a while — back when the Gagnes were first starting to create a bond that in some respects is almost sister-like, even if they aren’t actual kin.

“I can’t even remember, really, back to it, but I just know we’re both kind of really talkative goofballs, and so it was a pretty much just a laugh from the start, and kind of use it as like an inside joke ever since,” Ally said.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

Amanda Gagne, left, and Ally Gagne are sophomores with starting roles for the Poland softball team. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)Poland’s Ally Gagne readies for a pitch while Amanda Gagne prepares to take off from first base during a game against Gray-New Gloucester in Gray last Monday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)Poland’s Amanda Gagne digs in to hit during a game against Gray-New Gloucester in Gray last Monday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)Poland pitcher Ally Gagne peers in for a sign during a game against Gray-New Gloucester in Gray last Monday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)Poland’s Amanda Gagne takes off from second base during a game against Gray-New Gloucester in Gray last Monday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)Poland pitcher Ally Gagne winds up toward home for a delivery during a game against Gray-New Gloucester in Gray last Monday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)

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