HOLDEN — In early April, as the 2023 high school softball season was about to kick off, Wachusett Regional High School varsity head coach Jason Lanpher made a bold prediction as to what to expect from this young team, which had just four seniors on its roster.
“We’re young, and we’re going to win differently than we have in the past, but we still have the ability to go the distance,” Lanpher acknowledged at the time. “When you’re a young team, you want to get things rolling in the right direction as soon as you can work out any bugs that come up along the way.”
Now with playoffs under way and the regular season in the rear-view mirror, Lanpher, who has guided a number of highly successful Wachusett teams over the years, including a 2019 MIAA Division 1 state championship that featured an unblemished record of 25-0, is prophet- like in his assessment of his squad, which swept through the regular season undefeated. The Mountaineer record stands at 20-0 after blanking visiting Tantasqua Regional, 6-0, in the Class A quarterfinals of the CMADA (Central Mass. Athletic Directors Association) tournament on May 23. The team is fourth in the MIAA Division 1 Power rankings.
“We’ve far exceeded my expectations coming in,” Lanpher said. “We’re always going to be competing for a state championship, but to go undefeated and run the table and playing the way we are right now, I’m very happy.”
“We’re a really confident team, and we’re doing well,” said prolific hitter Tiegan Walsh, currently batting .541 with 3 HRs and 28 RBIs. “We work hard in practice, and we keep on doing what we’re doing. It’s great to know that you can have fun playing but also work hard, and it all comes together really quickly.”
“We have to come together as a team, and we can’t rely on one person,” added senior co-captain and catcher Emma Britt. “We rely on each other and put our trust in everyone.”
In the matchup versus Tantasqua, it was sophomore pitcher Shayna Bakun going the distance to earn the shutout. Bakun (1.21 ERA) was masterful mixing pitches in keeping the opposition off the board while the team pushed through for 6 runs for a commanding lead.
“I try not to over-think, because when you do that it gets in your head and your mechanics start to fail,” she said of her success on the mound. “You need to make sure you have strong defense behind you and stay confident, and that leads you to success. If you have a good team behind you, all you have to do is throw strikes and pound the zone.
“Our defense is really strong. We’re working well together, and it gives me even more confidence to know that I can pitch around the plate and it’s OK for the batters to hit it. I have solid defense behind me that can make the plays and know what they’re doing.”
“She (Bakun) is young, but she’s made big improvements from last year to this year,” said Lanpher of his confident hurler. “She and Taylor (Stuart) and Megan (Larson) have really stepped up this year. I knew they were young and didn’t totally know what to expect, but they’ve really stepped up for us.”
Wachusett scored single runs in the second and fifth innings. Brett reached on a centerfield error that preceded hits by Caitlin Ciccone and McKenzie Caron to account for the team’s first run. Ciccone would double and score on base hits by Caron and Amanda Roche for the second tally.
The Mountaineers would plate four runs in the sixth inning to break the game open courtesy of four Tantasqua walks sandwiched between a Walsh double and a Ciccone single.
“We’ve hit the ball really well,” Lanpher summed up his team’s performance. “I’ve got kids with higher batting averages on my bench than I do in my lineup. It’s a nice problem. We’re also playing really good defense. In past years, I had pitchers that would mow batters down. This year we’ve had to play really good defense behind these young pitchers, and they’ve done a great job.”
Members of the 2023 Wachusett Regional High School regular-season undefeated varsity softball team are Emma Britt, Shayna Bakun, McKenzie Caron, Lillian Chaisson, Caitlin Ciccone, Laurel Field, Esmee Frohock, Isabella Giaquinto, Kendall Grady, Gracie Granger, Emerson Johnson, Avery Laitala, Megan Larson, Ruby Lepore, Sydney Lyne, Isabel Moreno, Amanda Roche, Taylor Stuart and Tiegan Walsh.
